“Siren Song”
you've been warned
know where they live across open sea
know which sharp craggy rocks they perch upon
snaring sailors on their deadly shore
cracking the bones of sea-faring men
cleaning their flesh from teeth stained
by a thousand extinctions, they sing
music of the spheres to lure and leech
the lives of enamored audiophiles
choose another route
sail from those soul-sucking succubi
their heavenly voices and sanguine incisors
stuff your ears with wax
or blast Bach through headphones
to cancel out their carrion call
better to cast eardrums into the Western sea
than drown yourself in black oblivion
who would not be tempted
by them, to hear the complementary notes
of creation and destruction?
the voice of god vibrates in the music
of spheres spinning through the void
as well as the whisper of autumn breezes
each shimmering fish in the sea.
no need to risk all when
beauty’s before you.
resist the temptation
danger loses its allure
when you’re a corpse: dead is dead.
sex and danger cancel each other
when sunk within
deep ocean
graves
and yet
some things are worth dying for,
but
for some
a simple mutilation will suffice,
or
maybe something less
like--a pounding head,
--an eardrum busted
by noise-canceling BOSE,
and an enormous credit card bill
#
*inspired by the following tweet by @sentantiq at 6:59am May 13, 2021
“Someone might escape the beautiful bewitchment of Homer’s Sirens by not starting at all, by stuffing wax in his ears, or by turning in some other direction.” #Eustathius
*common sense disclaimer: I am not disparaging BOSE earpieces, just commenting in the poem that blasting music too loud (to cancel out outside noise) through any earpiece could damage your ears.
*note: I am no longer using twitter for ethical reasons (link), but this prompt was written earlier, before I left the platform.
*image courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net via Creative Commons Licensing.
