Xandra Button

The lies keep spreading:

Calypso, the girl who

Kisses every man that lands

On her godforsaken beach,

Calypso, the mistress

Who has stolen husbands

A million times over,

The one with hands like magnets,

Calypso, the kidnapper.

As if I am the one who draws them in.

All I’ve ever wanted was

To be alone. Then this island

Surrounded me;

I mistook crashing waves

For freedom.

Poseidon stroked the water

Until it spit a man onto my shore.

Zeus lifted the winds and told them

To carry surging rumors

To my ears.

But Aphrodite possesses them all.

Use her, she whispers.

I’ll never let your wife know.

She’s right. The wives

Never know, but everyone

Else does. Still the rumors

Haunt my sleep. They hurt almost

As much as the men.

Oh, I guess it’s a blessing

That they always leave.

Rafts appear,

Eventually, and

Black eyes fade.

Others hear of a goddess

Who entices heroes, lures them

From their cold beds into the most

Captivating of caves.

But the only real cave

On this island

Is in my heart,

And the darkness deepens

With every whisper.