Orpheus
for Gail Rible
Jonathan Lenore Kastin
Turn out the lights
one by one.
Sing to me
no more of sun
or sea
or fortunate isles.
I want my
Orpheus of blood,
not ichor,
the poet saint of all things
shipwrecked
in the arms
of night.
No more lyres,
no fragrant olives,
no more laughing,
gilded gods.
I want
the song
of the scorpion’s
bite.
I want
the notes
of the killing
knife
for the country of joy
is forbidden.
Jonathan Lenore Kastin earned his MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. His poems can be found in Mythic Delirium, Goblin Fruit, and Abyss & Apex. He lives with a murderous cat, too many books, and a frightening number of skulls.