"Goddess of the Lockdown"

9666 0 0

Hestia declares herself
the goddess of the lockdown
of game nights
of distance learning
of amateur haircuts
of Netflix,
Zoom,
and Google Meets.

Hestia declares herself
the goddess of home delivery.
A bit unclear on the concept,
Hestia yokes an Amazon to her chariot.

Hestia declares herself
the goddess of the hearth.
still,
after all these millennia.
"Show me your hearth!" she demands.
"Or your breakfast nook, if you must."

Hestia disdains the microwave.

She follows her nose
outside
for the first time in weeks.
Fresh air and sunshine
aren't her style.
But Hestia smiles
at the vinyl-wrapped propane grill.

Athena,
her father's Aegis on one arm,
looks on in envy.
Grey-eyed Tritonia
carries a stack of thunderbolts
but
more than any storm,
the gods love a good barbecue

and only Hestia

is ever allowed

to wield Zeus's spatula.

Greg R. Fishbone
May 2020