On The Lady and the Unicorn by Danielle Nicole Byington

The Lady and the Unicorn, one of six tapestries in a series from Flanders, 1500s.

 
On The Lady and the Unicorn
 
She touches the horn just so--
Enough to glimpse
Into the maidenhood she loses.
Frozen by the taste she's aspired to deny,
She’s unable to jerk her hand
Away in complaint.
 
Now every note she hears
Is the climax of God,
Dripping on fair skin that
Shivers in a velvet dress
Among staring animals
That embroider her environment.
 
She no longer hunts for nature--
It spreads her open like a trough,
Leaving its heredity
To collect in her lips,
Screaming in her ears
With the birth
Of its hungry larvae.
 
She inhales the odor
Of nature’s perversion
Through her elfish nose,
Then checks herself in the mirror
To eliminate mistakes.
 
The bounty of senses consumes her,
Jumping in her lap
To tell her lies about
The purpose of breathing,
The purpose of breeding,
The purpose of bleeding--
Now she understands.
 
 Danielle Nicole Byington

This poem was published in The Mockingbird, spring 2015.

Danielle Nicole Byington's work can be seen in journals such as RIGHT HAND POINTING, RUST + MOTH, and JERSEY DEVIL PRESS.  While completing her English-MA, Danielle is serving as editor of East Tennessee State University’s literary/arts magazine, THE MOCKINGBIRD.  Her academic work focuses on creative writing as well as Medieval and Renaissance literature, joining the two areas with an interest in aesthetics.  Danielle enjoys life with her Shakespearean better half and three ridiculous cats.