"The Siren's Song" (a three-foot sonnet)

In my seafoam gown
Upon the cliff I sing
Perchance a groom to bring
But all my suitors drown

When they hear my call
The ship is quick abandoned
And sailors all left stranded
Beneath my rocky wall

The ocean is so vast
They tire out before
The ever reach the shore
A shame that they don’t last

One day I’d like to wed
But not to one who’s dead

This was a three-foot sonnet I wrote as part of an impromptu art collaboration with my photographer friend Chris Barbour and my poet friend Matthew Muñoz. Chris wanted to do a beach photo shoot, and I had no costumes ready, so I quickly made one out of a hippie bead string curtain. The makeshift dress looked like a skimpy wedding gown, so I decided to build a story around it. Matthew and I picked “Greek mythology” as a poetry topic for our weekly poetry challenge, so I ended up writing poetry about mythical sirens who tempted passing sailors to swim toward them.

In many versions of the Greek tales, the sirens are not necessarily evil creatures, but merely unfortunate beings who were banished to the lonely cliffs in the middle of the ocean. Their alluring voices were not designed as an arsenal, but rather, a curse: despite their attempts to verbally warn the handsome young sailors of the dangerous cliffs, what emanated from their mouths instead was the most intoxicatingly irresistible music, compelling the men to jump ship and drown in their hot pursuit.

Anyway, after I wrote the first poem, which was a three-foot sonnet (shortened from the traditional five-foot one) and thought, “Why not go all the way and write a one-foot version?” So here’s that:

"The Siren's Song" (one-foot version)

I plea
To him
To swim
To me

His bride
I’ll be
If he
Survives

At length
En route
He’s out
Of strength

I doom
My groom

The costume is made from upcycled materials. The gown, as I mentioned, is made from an old fringe curtain. The headdress is made from leather from an upcycled purse, and old metal bits from a scavenged steampunk scrap. (The wig is just a wig.)

I liked the way these photos turned out. Chris and I wanted to make it look like the dress itself was made of seafoam, and I think we were pretty successful!