You called to the heavens in a rage,
A bitter tongue and a mind on fire
Made you bare your shiny white teeth
And bite into the night,
Letting the sky dissolve like sugar on your tongue
And leaving you with cavities in your being
And now you sit in the hand you bit,
The hand that fed you,
A mockery and a jest,
Bottled lightning forced into shape
When the sun sets.
Reflection ||
The poem was inspired by the story and features of Cassiopeia. I wrote the lines: ‘You called to the heavens in a rage, a bitter tongue and a mind on fire made you bare your shiny white teeth’ as a way to discuss the mythos behind Cassiopeia. Her legend has to do primarily with her daughter Andromeda, which also happens to be a constellation. According to texts, Cassiopeia made the mistake of comparing her daughter to the goddess of beauty, and, in doing so, angered the gods and made her daughter into a target for vengeful monsters. The next few lines are meant to describe how Cassiopeia’s arrogance caused her to lose her daughter and ruin her life, and made a part of herself empty. I wanted the poem to sound sweet but have darker undertones. The final few lines describe Cassiopeia’s shape and positioning in the sky. The constellation looks like a lightning bolt, so I thought I would try to capture her angry energy and her shape in one line.