James Moore Poet Narrative

Notes About The Poem

"Birth of Gaia", 2017, original encaustic

The Return of the Goddess

History moves in cycles, tides of energy
And interest, passions and powers.
What was becomes replaced
With what is
Until it too is replaced
Often with just a reborn version of the old.
But symbols hold more than mere meaning
They hold power, or rather
Unleash power.

So with the return of the goddess,
The pagan forces of nature,
Once replaced in full by something
More spiritual and new,
Now rise in a secular materialism
An idea and ideal of a Heaven on Earth
In the form of Marxism, Fascism, 
Communism, Feminism, Environmentalism, 
Globalism, Post-modernism, Hedonism
Or Shedonism. But whatever the ism, 
The gist is always an obtainable dream
To have and to hold, here and now.

So we get equality and equity for all
Regardless of who actually deserves it.
We get a women’s lib
Which in effect takes on the worst aspects
Of masculinity, or rather applies 
The distinctively masculine
To what is by nature its opposite and complement.
The result, of course, is the expected chaos
Of women acting like men 
And men acting like women,
And I don’t mean trans,
Just simply hard and soft.

What was always yielding by nature
Has become rigid and tough
At least on the surface
As the heart inside withers and cries,
A virtueless victim of its own desires,
Its body in need of healing
Futile rituals of body-count reset,
Like a baptism of renewal
In endless lunar cycles.

But no amount of reset purification
Can make you really feel like a virgin again.
The goddess has returned
But it is not the form 
Of a pure and chaste Athena we see. 
Instead we have Inanna-Ishtar,
But now an Ishtar on the pill.
And if she somehow manages to get herself
Knocked up, then heaven help us,
Because her form is then likely to become 
A child eating Lamia.

You shudder and laugh nervously
Or in outright derision of a repressive
And repulsive patriarchy I see,
And yet don’t you see, all around us now
The goddess has returned, but not
To her sacred core, instead in outward flight
With a vengeful attitude and score.

History moves in cycles, tides of energy,
And on the tides
All the flotsam and jetsam
Of the past rides too.

(10/7/26)

♡Like0

Share Poem

---

Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment