Persephone Beneath the Blue Glass

tell us again of how
you were stolen, the sun’s
only daughter

bore lonely in the black hills
of San Joaquin
queen of the honey bees
and orange blossom

bore how the earth split
open and swallowed
you

how you ended up a wife
with a brand new hoover, a pretty
lace apron
one boy on each hip

when other girls were sewing prom dresses

living your half life underground, nuclear
and swimming that
river of whiskey, still thirsty and nibbling
darvonvaliumpercoset
like the seeds of a pomegranate

and tarantula tequila
poured out even
like a sheet of blue glass