The Dark Haired Woman Next Door

The Dark Haired Woman Next Door


I wonder if I dressed as a swan
Would my neighbor understand
When I called her "Leda."

Or would she say, seeing my feathers,
"You have drunk too much wine."
Our age, not the time for metaphor,
symbol, or myth.

She's not learned,
has a modern college education,
Does not know Yeats, or the Greeks,
only rock music
Seeing me dressed as a swan,
she would dial 911.


Duane Locke

Posted over on Gumball Poetry