Isabel Grey

Siren Sapphics

Hymn for 2025
 
Oh siren, whose blend was commenced on the day
Of women nationwide, how you turn the tide
With your one half female, one half fishtail form,
                                                You live as hybrid.
 
Your likeness printed on espresso bean bags
I slice open with stainless-steal shears and sift
My human being through your sieving breaststrokes.
                                                We adapt to change.
 
I don your forest green apron to make change,
Gracious for supplemental coverage in this
Uncovered, uncalled for, uncomprehending
                                                System of healthcare.
 
Siren, if medicine is a science, why
Are citizens dying of denial and
Health is simmering down to merely business?
                                                I won’t rest my claim.
 
If I can become a fully-fledged woman 
Of the U-S-of A, I won’t let assholes
Take away my children’s right to do the same.
                                                So, I sing her song,
 
Symphany of a service job— steaming milk,
Charging nitrous, ingredients for justice
Served scalding hot with notes of citrus, chocolate.
                                                I’m an alchemist
 
Praying to her mermaid deity the words
Bishop Budde entreated out president with:
Have mercy. If they think we can be erased
                                                I’ll say I’m a ring—
 
A coffee stain on red ties that won’t come out,
A cyclical existence that will always
Have a future, always have a place, a home.
                                                We are the “mutants”,
 
The same sirens secure on their sturdy rocks.
Watch as we brush out hair and polish our scales.
But don’t worry about being led astray,
                                                We already are.