Standing on the rooftop, I am Juno, Ceres,
Victoria, Minerva, Hecate, Iris, Diana –
wind in my hair, sun rising to greet me.
I contemplate flight over a city awakening,
scoping out freshly mown territory –
looking for places to hide in plainest sight.
Simply clad in camouflage, blending in
with treetops, I am pleased with last year’s crops
but not content. Over and again, I rise victorious,
no ashes in sight, with wing expansion greater
than my own capacity for dreaming. Wise but
not without faults of jealousy, suspicion,
my body armor never leaves my sight completely.
I carry torches and threats to morph you into
other forms if you double-cross me. I may
surprise you, arriving when you’re least prepared –
with cryptic messages and leftover nectar dripping
from my fingertips. My eyes ablaze like silver moons,
and deadly as my aim is true, I do not suffer fools lightly.
Octopus Issue 8
August 2019