Men as Objects of Desire
The myths have got it right about the males
And females. Males are hunters in each myth.
They go out stalking victims in these tales
And tragedy results. The females, with
A sudden craze, are forced to fall in love
With men who love to chase. Adonis fell
To this entrapment. He was far above
All other handsome men. Love cast its spell
Of lust on Aphrodite. You can guess
The outcome. Hunters’ beauty must be killed
To save the sacred. His physique’s success
Was punished in the hunt. A wild boar spilled
..His manly gorgeous guts with penetration’s tusk.
….His manliness was ravished to a husk.
Avoid Gorgeous Love
Mythology has got it right about
The females and the males. Narcissus was
In daydreams of both men and maids. The clout
Of beauty operated ruthless laws
So everyone who saw him wanted sex
With dazzling sumptuousness. The only one
Who didn’t was the man himself. The hex
Grabbed him at last. He felt the gruesome stun
When he beheld himself in water’s bright
Reflection while out hunting. There he fell
In instant love. A nymph had felt this blight
Already. She had felt the gorgeous hell
Before he did — and since they both could not
Have sex with him, each faded away, fraught.
~ Phillip Whidden