Tables Turned

by Adrienne J. Odasso

As well-intentioned as you are, you don't know
what it is you do. Your hand on my arm breathes

a there-there whisper, your lips silent on my neck
are tinged with the proudest pity. Can it be

I'm the chimera you must cage, the water dragon
curled sleeping in your bath? I'm waking faster

than you would care to admit, and I'm blooming
much brighter, fire-wild orchid, than you'd permit.

I didn't see it before, but these gestures of yours
are for show: all-consuming doubt creeps in

when you look at me now.

---

Adrienne J. Odasso's poetry has appeared in many strange and wonderful publications, including Strange Horizons, Sybil's Garage, Mythic Delirium, Jabberwocky, Cabinet des Fées, Dreams & Nightmares, Not One of Us, Stone Telling, and Goblin Fruit (just to name a few). Her fiction has appeared both online and in print anthologies. Her poetry chapbooks, Devil's Road Down and Wanderlust, are available from Maverick Duck Press. Her first full collection, Lost Books, was a finalist for the 2010/2011 People's Book Prize.

Photography: mer girl by sara b.