persephone sits in a courtroom
dress as green as summer trees
her lipstick red as blood
her golden crown sits on the table
and hermes stares her down

“did you eat the seeds of your own free will?”
a dagger fashioned into a question
hades flinches, front-row seat;
thanatos his defense attorney

demeter straightens in the audience
a flower blooms in her sun-browned hair
her curls a halo round her daughter’s face
and persephone smiles

“i did.”

shocked gasps in the courtroom
the jury whispers amongst themselves
deities, spirits, nymphs, and ghosts
all here to judge the king of hell

“why?”

persephone looks into her husband’s eyes
lord and lady, king and queen
she takes her crown and settles it
upon her summer curls

“centuries ago,” she says, every word
a titan-sized whisper, “i was only a girl.
look at me now.”

persephone stands in a courtroom
and hades smiles

for here, she is
a queen