trout

Sextina

Erin Scudder

See Sextus slip
into Lucretia.
She didn't want to let him but he told
her he'd kill her and wreck her repute too. Do
you see how grittingly, today,
she wills herself away.

Or: In spite of herself Lucretia feels her guard slipping away.
Slip
into me, whispers she. Today
with a sigh she side-steps enmity. See Lucretia
cheating on her husband. The adulteress Lucretia will not do
as she is told.

Or: I told
you to go away,
says Lucretia to herself all day. Do
promise to avenge me! She says to her family and then slip
goes the blade into her belly as – crazy all the while, see – Lucretia kills Lucretia
today.

Or: Today
someone told
me that there was no way Lucretia
could get away
with murder. Hell-bound Lucretia is tried posthumously. Slip
into the back of the courtroom to watch. See what a woman like that can do.

Or: What was she to do?
is what I thought, today.
I am sure Lucretia gave Sextus the slip
just like I myself told
you to go away.
I'm like Lucretia.

Or: See Sextus slip into Lucretia.
Do
you think they'll put him away
today?
It depends on how we read her mind. Truth be told,
he's not the one on trial. This wasn't his slip.

What are we to make of you, Lucretia?
Today, and today, however the story is told,
away you slip quietly, into the fold.