Said the Satyr to the Wood Nymph
by Shawna Lenore Kastin
O my wispy lass, I will unpluck you, petal to bark, unto your green wick. Your wind-battered scraps become you like a wreath of midday blossoms. If I breathe but one breath you will fly skyward, a tuft of eiderdown, a spring crown. I will untie you, lace by lace, among the willow roots, until you are nothing but a pile of petticoats and nude skin. Nymph of birch bark and broom, your hair is a nest of burning grass. I will bind myself to it. Teach me the inner madness of growing things, for not all those of hoof and horn are crude as goblins. Some of us dig in the earth, taste lichen and mulch, the sweet nectar of summer fruit.
Shawna Lenore Kastin is a poet, singer and corsair in training. Her poems have been published in Mythic Delirium and she is currently earning an MFA degree from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her latest CD, a collection of songs written by her father, Darrell Kastin, and set to Portuguese poetry, is called Mar Portugues (Portuguese Sea) and you can hear some of the songs on her myspace page. You can also find her blogging about music and writing woes on her livejournal. She is currently attempting a novel. Pray for her.
Her favorite fruit is the passion fruit, which grows in abundance on the Azores: nine islands in the middle of the Atlantic where her ancestors probably ate passion fruit to their heart's content.
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