Susan Hawthorne #326 Terpsichore

I write in fragments
because that is how
our history is recorded
whether it's Sappho
Corinna or Roman
Sulpicia

Corinna is called
by Terpsichore to sing
for the young girls
women of Tanagra
wear the white peplos
their

garments are ornamented
with stories tales from
the old mothers
the girls dance to the
partheneia calling one
another

sounds whirling down
the valleys to the
rivers below the cliffs
their voices rising
to heights where
birds fly

grasshoppers
spring and spin
in death throes
returning after death
to the Muses'
home

there sit the Muses
each with her own
sphere Terpsichore
brought the Sirens
into the world
singing

she is the ennead
containing others
she turns gathering
all in her dance
ending the beginning
beginning the end