Who can tell us, Phaedrus,
what is good and what is not good
— and do we need anyone to tell us these things?
Plato
If Zeus puffed
one small breath
into your coat of flesh
is there even
a scrap of it
that merits your
or anyone’s contempt?
Diana
champion of virgins
will get you a fine husband
maybe two
devoted and delighting lovers
good work, good friends,
laughter at your table
children who always love you
will you but
spare your nose the knife
A poetry of omissions
of silences
excisions
Over Sloane Square
the thin girls
are pinned and pictured to the wall
Under their commanding gazes
do not exchange your beauty for the world’s
Do not surrender
Do not yield
one
fraction
of an inch