CASEY REILAND

Echidna, Before Her Death, Finally Seen

Wife of Typhon, Mother of Monsters

Good mothers chain / themselves to beds / push children / still milky and wet / from the womb / Good mothers / lose themselves to / darkness / learn the language of / stalagmite / drapery / everything is silent / in a cave / I pounded limestone / into warpaint / and plunged into / shadows / not even my scales / stay / shed to ribbons of bumpy / cactus skin / Good / mothers / lurk / on the edge / of tongues / paper / Argus / I am half woman / half serpent / but men will transform me / to a casket / maggot with yoke flesh / Typhon’s irises always / burned precious coral / red flame / so I appeared / as smoke / O Argus / did I not / prepare / my children / for my / keeper / no / mate / did I not / serve / Chimera / Cerberus / Orthrus / tell them / how jagged / the blades of their claws / how sinewy / valleys / of their muscles were / hushed them / when their father / emerged / All mothers / fear / their children / know the twisted / damp roots / pulled from our bellies / gather on our babies / flies on a lonesome skeleton / Argus / monsters are / born / extracted / splinters sucked / from wrists / because even the brain / will register / a swollen and / deep / russet wound / it’s beautiful / Good mothers are self- / less of history will / know my name / even less will remember / my face / chest / eyes / tell me their / color / Argus / Are they a thousand / hues / of light scattered on / an ocean / a thousand / shades of violet / mountains splitting / look at me Argus / look / at / me

Casey Reiland's work has appeared or is forthcoming in On the Seawall, The Puritan, CausewayLit, After Happy Hour, PULP Literature, and the Headland Journal. She received a BA in English Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and currently lives in the Washington, DC area.