Circe on Campus

Circe, the Classical Studies scholar, selects her own sorority. 

She turns her frat rat suitors into sisters, then invites them to dine.

The vestiges of men taint this dinner party. Loutish

manners remain. These nouveau femmes transform the feast

into a testosteronated banquet by lifting their chair legs,

holding their knives as antlers, and acting as rutting rams

clashing over the centerpiece. At the football stadium, 

docile jocks assemble where the jealous Circe has arranged 

their transformation into swine. At the fifty-yard line, 

they count off their fate, where one in twenty become boars, 

the rest, sows. How else to propagate the species of pork chops, 

pickled snouts and tenderloins for the guests at Circe’s table? 

In the kitchen, Circe’s male professors are now aproned-clad women, 

seasoning their arguments with scallions and garlic. Brothing 

at the mouth, the cooks whip their pigtails till they interlock, 

impeding civil intercourse, interrupting the serving of soup.

In the dining hall, Circe sits at the table’s head, swilling her blood-red wine. 

—First appeared in Last Stanza Journal

JL Kato is a retired newspaper copy editor. His poetry collection, Shadows Set in Concrete, was selected as a Best Book of Indiana in 2011. A longtime ambassador of the literary arts, he was chosen as 2022 Literary Champion by the Indiana Authors Awards.

Next Page (JL Kato)

Previous Page (JL Kato)