Our Women’s History Month celebration would hardly be complete without the queen of them all, Cleopatra!

We offer a nine poem series.

*****

Recorded Reading (3:33): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tkakn8z1fsrk943d3vsa3/cleo-seven.mp3?rlkey=93f10lgju9skyjr9baxcncim5&dl=0

*****
cleo seven

she said
power is
intrinsically
nothing at all pleasurable

oh
one may sometimes
summon pleasure with it

or rather
pleasures

there is a difference
and it is not
a pleasant one, hee hee!

(she has the loveliest
and lightest
of laughs

bet it added immeasurably
to her fabled allure)

…but

in and of itself
what power represents to its holder
especially in my own When
and Where

but even
today

even today

is:

limitation.

yes
you heard me
correctly

oh
did i summon
at apparent whim
my slightest desire?

yes, it was always
and only
my slightest desire
which was mine to summon

instantly gratified
with elaborate
obsequiousness
and outwardly impressive show

and how it all did indeed impress
our visitors

who could not know
i was denied forever
anything which might
truly noursh this pantingly
thirsty soul

submerged
smothered
subsumed by all their ritual

ex
pec
tations

my presence before the
dazzled eyes in that throne room

conformed
conformed
conformed

every single moment
of every single day and night
of my time in the palaces
which is to say
all of my life
from the moment of birth
to death

with the stars
the gods
the everlasting round
of purification
robing
ritual
audience
feast
repeat
repeat
repeat

every word, every
action every
gesture
dictated by
justified to
a priesthood
you wouldn’t want
to face
in a dark alley

or a magnificently
isolated
suite of royal apartments

foundering in its
surrounding sea
of selfish intrigue

let me tell you this:

if it is ever offered to you
temporal power
in your present life or any other

offered at the price
of any single moment
barefoot in the fields

no makeup
no one watching
watching
watchingwatchingwatching

just
because
you
yourself
at that moment
happen to
feel
like it?…

it won’t be worth it

turn it down
sisters

*****

Until removal of the stalker/targeter/vandal/arsonist following her allows her to approach any landlord ~ even for a private parking space ~ and to begin once again to create professional connections and to rebuild her life, this poet presently lives homeless and at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level ~ still working seven days a week to contribute to her society, however.

Arts patrons may visit http://www.UgiftABLE.com , using code #72D-31S, or choose to send a personal check to the poet’s ABLE account. It takes about two weeks for the poet to be notified of your patronage.

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