Pandora
I’ve spent the morning staring
at Pandora’s box
it is right there where she left it
in the closet
with my other inhibitions
just opening the closet door
was a mistake
you and I both know that.
I’m adding brown sugar
and molasses
to the cake batter downstairs
and meanwhile
my imagination is burning
as I think about opening
the lid
and turning out the contents.
I call it my
danger box
it is filled with bad choices
that keep calling down to me
like a box of chocolate-covered
temptations
I can already taste
in my mouth
the gunpowder tea flavor
of excitement.
I take the roulette of choices
one day at a time
tomorrow I will crack the lid
just a tiny amount
but every day
I’ll wait until tomorrow
to pull the trigger.
Swedish soprano Christine Nilsson as Pandora by Alexandre Cabanel, 1873
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
