Danae - Poem

African American Review, Fall, 2002 by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon

Dane

Lyrae van Clief -- Stefanon


  i been thirsty so long that my mouth feels
  like parchment/got words written cross it (Patricia Jones)

1. Brass Room

I spraypaint every piece of brass
flat black: glass-topped coffee table,
bed-side lamps with their silk
green shades. I know my father
decorated this room to punish me.
I tape off marble bathroom tile
with brown paper
and spray tub fixtures:
faucet and handles. I cover
the floor and paint
the brass clawed-feet.
There is nothing I can do
about the walls, this hammered metal
glint distorting reflection.
I glimpse myself knowing no man
will ever twist open
these doors. There is no use for
so much shining.

2. Shower of Gold

Water spills over my ankles
as the tub fills. I imagine
the faucel's gleaming throat,
its valves wide open.
I close my eyes and pray,
the gold behind my eyelids
from the skylight
deliquescent. Taste God
in acrid bitter tears;
a piss warm stream
I recognize as love.

Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon received her B.A. from Washington and Lee University and her M.F.A. degree from Penn State. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Callaloo, Columbia, Poet Lore, Rattapallax, and African American Review. A recipient of an Academy of American Poets prize, she recently received a grant from the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund for her manuscript The Way the Voice of God Appears in Movies. She lives in Fauquier County, Virginia, with her husband Justin.