Meriwether Clarke
Persephone as a Moat
The first touch was
a whispered voice hissing
stay back.
On my back
he took me.
Me: a soft spell, an under
garment, a shallow end.
Endings and beginnings, endings
and beginning— a quiet chant,
hidden beneath breath.
Breathe slowly through
the night, again.
Again, reverse course–
pretend to smile,
stay alive.
Alive but not
alive (always
hiding).
Hiding from a man
is not the same
as hiding from a God.
God who made me
now unmake me.
Me: a moat, hair falling
in a circle
around my feet.
Meriwether Clarke’s poetry has appeared in Best New Poets, Colorado Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Daily, The Boiler, Seneca Review, Sixth Finch, and elsewhere. Her chapbook, twenty-first century woman, was released by Dancing Girl Press in 2019. Her debut full-length collection, Body Memory, was released by Unsolicited Press in 2025. She currently lives in Santa Barbara, California.
