Genie, After the Split
So the mythical genie in the bottle — don’t you always feel sorry for the genie? He or she is trapped in there, squished down, sometimes from a much-larger-than-human size, to fit inside something that, if it is lucky, is large enough to hold a fifth of whiskey. Maybe the genie deserves it, maybe it is being punished just for being a genie, or maybe it is simply the nature of being a genie.
But, to be forced to become a version of yourself which is very much less than what it is possible for you to be–how awful.
Add to that the fact that the genie, if female, is always an object of desire. She’s able to work magic (except to free herself) on behalf of some lucky (male) benefactor. She’s desired for what she can do and how she looks. And–though this is generally unspoken–she’s desired because she can be put right back into that bottle and controlled. You can get what you want and then put your tools away. Because those tools are female.
Mythology isn’t exactly free of chauvinism.
Genie, After the Split
Unobserved, yet I make my manual request,
shape my fingers: let me out—
my magic won’t work stoppered
in this sometime home,
jar of gilded peacock-green glass,
hand blown, where your desire once met mine.
Our separation burns brassy,
fumes me with cobalt, copper, oxides
suffocating. Through the clearest place
I scan my sky for a sign you’ll return.
Patience is not my virtue. I practice,
cross-legged among cushions,
where glassy hips neck into glassy waist.
Another long night, starless.
No picking this lock.
Snug, I once described it. A cozy starter home.
I catch myself mouthing in my mirror,
then repeat it all in sign:
the shell is more rugged than the oyster.
my irritation makes no pearl.
If you enjoyed Genie, After the Split
You can read more of my work on this blog or in the collection Stars Crawl Out From Their Caves, which is available in both ebook and print. Missed a poem of the week? Links to prior weeks are on this page.
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Genie, After the Split originally appeared in Spectator & Spooks, Volume #2, Fall 2017.
Comments welcome–have a great week, and look for another poem next Monday.