Demeter's Call

by Morgan Boyer

Headset strapped to my left sided cheek
a sound alerted me like a shepherd's whistle.
Einkorn wheat fields coast through the audio
the static plucked kernels flinging at
the edges of each spoken sentence
like Demeter, she was tied to sewn soil
as the harvest was about to begin;
the scythe of labor was imminent.
Connect her to the midwife, the farmhand
who shall yank the root from stem
that will then wither in worries of motherhood.
Then grind the kernels it bore,
combine with water, bake
until it disappoints us all.

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Morgan Boyer (she/her) is the author of The Serotonin Cradle (Finishing Line Press, 2018) and a graduate of Carlow University. Boyer has been featured in Kallisto Gaia Press, Thirty West Publishing House, Oyez Review, Pennsylvania English, and Voices from the Attic. Boyer is a neurodivergent bisexual woman who resides in Pittsburgh, PA.