Kathleen Aguero
Click on the "Archive" button above to return to the Features archives
Kathleen Augero's most recent book of poetry, Daughter Of, is published by Cedar Hill Books. She is also the author of two books of poetry, Thirsty Day (Alice James Books) and The Real Weather (Hanging Loose Press). She has also edited three volumes of multicultural literature published by the University of Georgia Press: A Gift of Tongues, An Ear to the Ground, and Daily Fare. She is a Professor of English at Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, MA.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medusa
She surfaced from Poseidon's rape alone
but for Athena plaiting snakes into her hair.
Who wouldn't want a face that turns a man to stone?
The most beautiful of three sisters turned
Gorgon, yet feeling human pain, there
in the temple where she fought alone.
Out of pride Perseus brought her snake head home,
wedding present for an exiled mother who, in despair,
needed a face to turn her consort into stone
and got one in Medusa's. Think how the Trojan women moaned,
resisted being herded onto nightmare
ships, ravaged by Greeks. Not alone,
their children watching, plotting to be grown
to warriors or stunned by terror of what they'd share
unless they found a face to turn men into stone.
Think of any woman caught in war, in mundane violence, atoning
for her body's flesh and bone
praying only she might wake alone.
Why wouldn't she want a face to turn men into stone?
from Daughter Of, Kathleen Aguero
November Daybreak
The sky, dull lavender, night's fading
stain, bleaches to pewter
daybreak, becomes an indifferent suitor,
indifferently dressed, parading
quietly after trading
black velvet for something more muted,
more suited to morning¹s dignity. A hooded
sun. Some few clouds braiding
the horizon. One star
still out. One neighbor's light just on.
Geese heading south. Against the far
wall chrysanthemums brown
at their edges. Farther still, the charred
scent of leaves. A sense that things come round.
from Daughter Of, Kathleen Aguero
