zazzau (21)

zazzau

did zazzau really kill her hapless lovers?
did she really let them know her for just

one night; one convenient coitus – then
have them slain before daybreak? why?

to keep them from spreading tales at
common watering holes? to keep them

eternally faithful? or maybe, like the
spider, she required a corpse to feed her love.

this town, bearing her name, is thick with the

shades of lovers; strong with the aroma

of love long dead:

in adolescent girls, fair game for grade wielding

teachers & dons;

in working girls augmenting their incomes; in

plump wives resigned to streetfooted spouses.

is this, then zazzau’s boon? amorous

ghosts to animate

where love is dead;
where love has fled.

© Joseph McNair; 1990-2009