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Poetry for mojo13

Cassie Garison — Ode to Callon

first recorded sex reassignment surgery in Ancient Greece


Daybreak: sparrows evaporate,

twist and wrench mechanical

into nothing. Ships fall
off every horizon. Lay down

your loom shuttle, Callon—
dissemble alphabet and disrobe

skin no longer yours. Drape
cloak over shoulder-bone, tendril

collar covered in fabric, robes
metallic as sky before

storm. Tell them not that these
were Homer’s clothes, woven

from moon shard and star
spindle, chiffon debris

and black hole. Tell them not
that you can make sun hit

all of Greece like rain-
water, that himation

hides spine trailing
behind, hollow acoustic

bone barely attached
to corpus.