The Two-Faced Girl (Diprosopus)
By MEG EDEN
The child carries her dead sister’s face,
wears her stolen body like an eternal
garment that cannot be changed,
only soiled. And look at her parents—
who are also children as they hold her
and her pencil-like ankles with fear
of breaking their bizarre infant god.
In her honor the village builds
a temple. She is named after
the goddess with three eyes.
We film her because we do not
understand, but if we were not here,
would she be found
inconvenient—even dangerous,
perhaps—and be thrown
in the heat of a garbage alley?
The father says the child does
well, but what is well?
The baby drinks with hesitance,
and her mother is never quoted.
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Meg Eden‘s work has been published in various magazines, including Rattle, Drunken Boat, Poet Lore, RHINO and Gargoyle. She teaches at the University of Maryland. She has four poetry chapbooks, and her novel “Post-High School Reality Quest” is forthcoming June 2017 from California Coldblood, an imprint of Rare Bird Books. Find her online at www.megedenbooks.com or on Twitter at @ConfusedNarwhal.
