by Ilene Millman
He of the golden hair wished it
out of all the wishes he might have wished.
Feast your eyes on this, he crowed:
gold trim along the ceiling, the fireplace,
the sculptured cherubim Midas-ed
like the doorframe itself,
gold trophies, urns and vases multiply
on the mantle, monogramed gold coasters
gold paperweights weighting the tables,
gold carvings and palm-sized medallions sprinkling
the walls even
in the bathroom, even in the shower.
Twenty former presidents, history gilded
by his touch
hang in this hall of mirrors
but I wish to enter the myth
at the rarely told part here
where Apollo plays his silver lyre
which the no-king fails to hear
Ears like those of a beast.
So appraised, so it was
the long furry ears of a donkey
sprouted either side of his head.
Ilene Millman lives in Hillsborough, NJ. She has three children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Millman is a Speech/Language therapist who worked more than 35 years at a nonprofit school for students who learn differently. She published two games designed to help children with delayed language development. Millman writes poems about memories, mud, music, anything her abiding curiosity grabs onto. Her first poetry book, Adjust Speed to Weather, was published in 2018, and A Jar of Moths, in March, 2024 (Ragged Sky Press). She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2022 and 2024.
