Siren Song

Margaret Atwood, is one of my favorite novelists as well as poets. Her writing contains a strong feminist sensibility. I suggest checking out books such as Cat's Eye and A Handmaid's Tales for great prose. I like this poem because it describes itself while it becomes what it is. The reader is as much a sucker as the men the siren lures. Good stuff.

Siren Song

by Margaret Atwood

This is the one song everyone

would like to learn: the song

that is irresistible:

the song that forces men

to leap overboard in squadron

seven though they see beached skulls

the song nobody knows

because anyone who had heard it

is dead, and the others can’t remember.

Shall I tell you the secret

and if I do, will you get me

out of this bird suit?

I don’t enjoy it here

squatting on this island

looking picturesque and mythical

with these two feathery maniacs,

I don’t enjoy singing

this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,

to you, only to you.

Come closer. This song

is a cry for help: Help me!

Only you, only you can,

you are unique

at last. Alas

it is a boring song

but it works every time.