John Q. Mars
A Threefold History of the World
She is a lovely Maiden.
The strangers arrive, astounded by
her beauty—the eyes in their lunar faces tug
at the waves of her figure. From the
portliness of her lips to her ever-fecund hips,
they pause to survey the novelty before them.
Though of this they quickly tire and do soon conspire
to tear through the veil of her mystery.
She is a livid Mother.
Having borne the burdened fruit begotten
by the invaders’ forceful seeds sown, now
on her own to survive and care for her loathsome young.
As she is left alone, she endeavors to hone the plentiful
remainder of the exquisite power she will use to
reclaim what is truly hers.
But, in the meanwhile, she bides her time and submits while
the vampires lap the richness of her skin and ravage the last of her Eden.
She is a listless Crone.
The generations of pallid plunder have left her
struggling thereunder her unheard mutters and groans
that warn of an ancient puissance unleashed. For she is
infinity—bound in this timeworn form—
incarnate in this finite plane.
By the dust her bones, they shall behold
the glory to which she will inevitably be restored.
John Q. Mars is an undergraduate student at New York University in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study. He is concentrating in poetry, philosophy, and foreign languages. His four poems in What Rough Beast are his first poetry publications.
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