Narcissus on the Hunt                                                                          —Jennifer Bullis


My favorite is the start of the chase.
The startle, the white of the eye, high-tail

signaling danger. My favorite is being
the danger. What reflects in their eyes

is my power. When you’re as powerful as I am,
they let you do anything. Drive them through

the woods into the net. I can move stags
like the dogs of Diana. Better than the dogs

of Diana! When you’re as beautiful
as I am, you can have anything you want.

Diana in her dressing room, deer in the net.
My favorite is watching them trample

each other. What reflects in their blood
is my hunger. My favorite is feeding

my hunger. I don’t even wait. Grab them
by the throat. I kill them and eat them myself.





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Jennifer Bullis

Jennifer Bullis is author of Impossible Lessons (MoonPath Press). Her poetry and essays appear in Tinderbox, Water~Stone Review, Gulf Coast, and Under a Warm Green Linden. “Narcissus on the Hunt” is from her manuscript The Tongue of Narcissus, currently a finalist for the 2019 Brittingham & Felix Pollak Prizes. She is librettist for a cantata in the voices of the mythical Sirens, to be performed by Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Burning River Baroque of Cleveland.

ISSN 2472-338X
© 2018