from a photo by sienna brown
Sister of Narcissus
by Ellaraine Lockie
After Echo and Narcissus in Greek Mythology
As she freed water
from the bathtub
there clinked six
times a knock of metal
She rose, wrapped a
towel around her
and looked through
the peephole
in the hotel room
door
Seeing nothing she
said Who's there
Who's there repeated a voice
heavy with the weight
of an octave
Show yourself so I may decide she said
The deep echo in the
hall said the same
She, having little
interest in imitation
and being a modern
woman wet with desire
opened the door and
dropped the towel
He being an age-old
fool of a man
stepped from the wall
in a pool of drool
She smacked him in
the face with the door
Retired to her
king-sized waterbed
Listened to a litany
of rejected voices
And laughed
~ first published in Shakespeare’s
Monkey Review
