Pandora, In Parts

Part Two

GRACES.

This time, the graces come.

They give me my person.

The thing you will fall in love with.

And subsequently, destroy.

I already know.

It’s all right.

I’m big enough to take it.

Small enough to hide it.

HERMES.

And yes, I walk arm-linked

with the god who thinks I’m a dog.

I let him transport me.

I could have refused,

but gods get boring.

ELPIS.

Did you think I came bearing ills?

Zeus always underestimates his creations — but we know this

Frankenstein’s tale.

Hope remains,

like breadcrumbs.

PARTHENOS.

I was never a maiden

Never a child with wide-eyed wonder

Always a curiosity;

a yearning to find out;

a need to know why.

And if I make you uncomfortable

It was by design.

ALL-GIVING.

An adjective,

a constant knowing.

My third name — of sand’s erasure.

Elpis, my love, as in expectation,

not hope.

ELPIS II.

Did you think I came bearing ills?

Man always underestimates his own creations.

My coffin was already made.

I had but to ask the question.

CURIOSITY.

When hope is home,

the box remains.

Make use of it.

PYXIS.

Wood breathes in much longer inhales.

The nails eventually splinter it.

Who’s to say how evil was kept?

Seeping out over time.

They are mine, too, don’t forget.

LID.

It creaked when opened.

But nothing flew from

my mouth.

Only dread silence,

marveling at what man had wrought.

EPIMETHEUS.

Oh, you fool.

You hanged man.

You and your brother.

I was never so dog-minded.

Athene gave me my place, at her feet.

Or, have you forgotten?

Yes, wood and stone crumble.

Oh, Epimetheus. You always

were my favorite looking back.

LICHNOS APROPROS.

A hungry ouroboros

as hysterical(l)

as it is beautiful(l)

the crashing of the self

over and over and over…