“What Sets Her Apart, Asks Jayne, After Reading Another Guinevere Poem For Me In Massachusetts” by Tania Pryputniewicz
(Poet to Jayne)
The company she keeps: Arthur, his sorcerer sister,
their bastard son. Merlin. Her view of the rain stippled Severn,
orchard’s apples rinsed silver by dawn, the blue smoke
of burning peat. Hair framed by candleflame, cobalt
iris of eyes, flecks of cinnamon. Her position,
middle star of Orion’s belt, between Arthur and Lancelot
more brothers than lovers, lure of Grail to assure
they’d abandon her for days alone in the Tower
with a rapist. The tear in the veil we share. I prefer
to stay with her those hours, brutal, chivalrous.
Easier than here where I dream of the acned face
of a soldier heaving into me at the bottom of an ancient
church in church’s ancient time. To repeat
when I’m fourteen with a seventeen-year-old kid up the street.
Which sets me apart. Be my parable, I’m teachable:
You still had it all: husband, lover, convent.
Embroidered sleeves tip backs of your hands,
girl nested in woman like pit to peach.
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Tania Pryputniewicz Artist Statement:
A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Tania Pryputniewicz is a co-founding
blogger for Tarot for Two and Mother Writer Mentor. Saddle Road Press published her
debut poetry collection, November Butterfly, in 2014. Recent poems appeared or are
forthcoming at NonBinary Review, One, Patria Letteratura, and TAB. She lives in San
Diego, California with her husband, three children, a blue-eyed Husky and one portly
house cat named Luna. She can be found online at www.taniapryputniewicz.com
