Philomela After the Metamorphosis

← v16n1, Spring 2017

What I remember most—the stillness

before flight. My body could not

believe it would rise into sky

and escape his torture. Punishing

grass, the frantic minutes I ran

stretched longer than the year

woven in silence. As a child,

I feared birds—their feathers,

stealth from behind, leaving

in a flutter. Their freedom terrified

me most but while escaping, all I

wanted was to become a creature who

lifts without thought—only instinct.

Not merely to sing but to be song.

myth violence body gender

Jennifer Franklin

Jennifer Franklin is the author of two poetry collections: No Small Gift (Forthcoming from Four Way Books, 2018) and Looming (Elixir Press, 2015), which won the 14th Annual Elixir Press Editor’s Prize. Her poetry has appeared in Boston Review , The Nation , The Paris Review , and elsewhere. A selection of her poetry is featured in Andrew Solomon’s award winning book, Far from the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity (Scribner, 2013). She received her MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts where she was a Harvey Baker Fellow. Franklin teaches poetry workshops and seminars at The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center where she serves as the program director, and she is a coeditor of Slapering Hol Press, the small press imprint of The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center. She lives in New York City. Photo by Arnaldo Reyes