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Syntax Issue 10
Denver Syntax
{indiana zeus and the temptress womb}
  laura lehew



These days the divas are all about deadlines
and the ravages of time—there’s no room for seduction
the odd chase through the forest without a face full of pepper spray.

The oracles told me Nothing about the Yoke of Feminism. None of
them. Variations on today’s hookups? False
virgins, a chorus of feelings, self-help books. Sacrifices

they would have to make. After a wild night of feasting on glorious grape
they do not want my big shiny thunderbolt revealed. No, they do not
want unplanned offspring and Hades—;—they have options.

Birth control. Abortions. Hermes, Apollo, Orion—women have relationship
coaches. We have become scavengers on the interstate of copulation, showing throat to their
long term success discussions. Swarm to those un-opening doors.

We are mice, collectors of flowery salutations, therapy attenders
who swallow our volatile masculinity bury it a corpse
deep inside the wet-tar asphalt of our want.