Reincarnation as Cordelia

“Her deepest longing perhaps was to be loved unconditionally, and, at the same

time, be left in peace.”

“unquiet” linn Ulmann

All her life she had been used for something.

In the beginning it was by the scratchy faced father

who needed something sharper than

a razor.

Turned out it was a mirror and he changed her

name to Cordelia.

She reflected on this need and grew hate

In her body under the solar panel

yet longed for his truth.

as absent as the fog that looks for land.

Later, measured by many men ,she kept

measuring them back.

Loyalty oaths and money for ladies room

attendants,

Finding only greed

and looking back, she sees accurate

renderings

that what she thought was actually true

had been so at the time.

Many bank tellers count change but

she had counted needs and filled them.

Now she was taking herself

apart on the floor alone,

her brain in another room

on ice.

Final act.

She knows but she grows

wings and grace flies her.

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One response to “Reincarnation as Cordelia”

  1. Bonnie Larson Staiger Avatar

    I still love this poem. Haunting. Memorable.

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