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The Unpretty
The Hyacinth Review
The Hyacinth Review

The Unpretty

by
November 7, 2022
Painting of a foggy lake with a dozen mermaids in the water, some brushing their hair
Mermaids, Konstantin Makovsky, 1879

Leslie Cairns holds an MA degree in English Rhetoric. She…

Sirens get a bad rap, for when I dive into the pool to float And the man leers, but pretends he is just gatekeeper, Protecting its sea, the dingy mote– The warning sound pulls my gills in, when he says, I wish that I could keep her. I made the play but just in the ensemble. Are my poems of scattered vibrations Akin to singing men until they shimmy towards the sea glass? The part of my skull that wants to make words tumble, a coherent hallucination, My body that is a distraction because it’s been trained, through diligence laps in pools, into sweat and brass? I rhyme, placing my hair into cascading braids, my doldrums ceased. I think of when I ran track, and placed my legs upon the blocks of blades– What the other mermaids do not say: a siren’s time to feel pretty is only leased– The part of me that wants to take the lead’s place, as she sings stiletto, unafraid– Is that the part the siren’s call a warning? The part of me that hunkers down, gnaws on words like calories, is that the longing – boundless cavity – within me, that I’m scorning?
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Leslie Cairns holds an MA degree in English Rhetoric. She lives in Denver, Colorado. She has upcoming poetry/short stories in various magazines, including Coffeezinemag, Pink Plastic House Cerasus Magazine, Wishbone Words, and others.

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