assignment.

the teacher assigned 
a book of mythology
and independent research
on the deities of Greeks
from Aphrodite to Zeus and those between

she quizzed her class
on forty gods and goddesses 
and only three students
remembered all but two
the rest moaned for a lack of miracles

it was then that she began to think
about the uses of so many roles,
one for this, and one for that,
and many more for this and that,
all idealized to be idolized

she fantasized
like we always do
about living in another time
when the people wore their own skins
and enjoyed their lovers with their wines

if she could have Dionysus and his immortality
and move him off his seat
away from the women wildly drowned in dance
and keep him faithful and content
in a quiet kind of life

if she could she'd be the daughter
of Aphrodite's breasts
and Athena's brain
dignified virginity
doused in sex

after school,
in front of the statue,
she'd stare at his body
wishing for Ovid
to make her Pygmalion.

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