Orpheus Sings
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
“he sings to distract his shipmates from the irresistible lure of the Sirens onto the rocks”
~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 32
The Sirens were a favorite myth, a bit
Like Amazons, their queen and all of that.
Bronze ancient men feared females who had grit
That killed inside their voices with a splat
Of beauty that was fatal. Hatred, fear,
And pregnant loathing are why men cut off
Those warrior breasts in stories. That veneer
Of male respect is something which we scoff
At now. We have our modern shrinks, Germaine,
And other super feminists to tell
With sneers how men have always felt a pain
When women such as Circe cast their spell.
..Men’s threatened machoness needs him to sing.
….It wants Hippolyta raped by a king.