Danielle LaRose lives in Latham NY. She recently graduated from SUNY Albany with a BA in English and works as a bookseller at her local Barnes & Noble. Her poetry and short stories have contributed to successful completion of the 2009 NaNoWriMo contest. She strives to apply the “critique-al” perspective she gained from her studies to her current work, which frequently consists of imaginary conversations with problematic fictional and nonfictional characters. This is her first publication.

Antigone
By Danielle LaRose

kinship and civics at the dining table
moral idealists and political realists
simmering over a supper of grapes
Uncle, are our bodies billboards
neon signs, welcome mats
slick upright earth-pieces that cause so much trouble
for you?
Niece, public idolizing covers
the sweat stink of subjugation
Ambiguity is rampant, disruptive
Poseur, propping–a dilemma of ethics!
Uncle should I be the professional prosecutor
or the pristine priestess, glorifying the forgotten wonders
of drying cement, broken seashells, newborn sons?
Tending to the roses in the garden
allotted me by the suburban planners
smiling and checking with eyes and pens
Uncle, Husband, Brothers, it is clear to see
the ticking upturned vase
is sprung free
wandering along my spine
stretching its tendrils of questions
and claiming my mind
Prepare for upheaval, dissolution,
the end times
See, I have already
broken the ground for you
for when we go to rest
it will be beside each other
identical in the muck
So, say your prayers
it shall be such a relief
to find sleep after so much dreaming