Mistress Dispelling
by Lara Frankena
a gathering of mistresses by moonlight
caterwauling plaintively
I wake to find my flowers trampled
the tender bulbs uprooted
when we find the one with the bad eye
there is another litter for the gardener to drown
the swollen teats of the guilty mistress weep rivers of milk
younger mistresses sidle up to her, mewing
the mistresses curl around my legs
as I trail my fingers along striped hindquarters
or idly stroke perfumed hair
they murmur their appreciation
the mistress
who has been contentedly grooming her eyebrows
stops licking and listens
overnight, an outside mistress slithers in
my handbag, my red leather shoes
casualties
as snowflakes
as fingerprints
as zebra’s stripes
no two mistresses are alike
the old mistress’s rotten teeth have been pulled
my husband tries to read the paper
as she sucks her supper in the kitchen
the mistress with torn earlobes lounges by the fence
examining her nails
I ease the fallen nest into a crook
of the magnolia tree
its sky-blue eggs miraculously intact
to dispel the mistress
whisper in her ear of venereal disease
punish her with sticks
seduce her with another lover
it is my bed
and I intend to lie in it