Iosis
Free Verse
Remake me, alchemist
Consult your emerald tablet
Transformed through
Cinnabar’s mercurial cure
Thanks to you
I am a
Fully realized
Red blooded human
Meticulously distilled
In your alembic condenser
Hermes Trismegistus
Wonderful hybrid of
Syncretic glory, you
Have transmutation
Down pat
Inert and ignorant
I was a statue
Grotesque marble frieze
Titillating tales
On display to
Unfeeling spectators
Who lazily wield
Ornate binoculars
Zeroing in on
Sordid details
Only a true alchemist
May slump stone
Back into sludge
Bon voyage, I say
Stinking death of ignorance
Dissolved in darkness
You brought me
Back to light
Bathed in white
Citrinitas to Rubedo
Now I am ready
For you to
Name me Iosis
Prepare a
Golden place
Beside you
Where I might
Sit at your feet
We are
Two of a kind
Hybrids of
East and West
For here I am
A daughter
Forward in time
Using language
To bring you
Back to life
About the Creator
Aspen Marie
In love with life and all of its foibles.
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Comments (8)
Deep thoughts, love the language. Congrats.
Power to Top Story. HUGS
I loved your word choice here! Everything felt so meticulous and precise.
I thoroughly totally love this!!! I wrote an unpublished book about an alchemist. I am well versed in the lore. This isn't subject matter I see often. All the allusions are just perfect. And I really love your form, short lines for your poetry. I reads vertically in a way, more so than horizontally. I'm Bill. I've subscribed to you. It's a pleasure to find your stories. ⚡💙⚡
Amazing and Congratulations on Your Top Story 🎊
The shift from “I was a statue / grotesque marble frieze” to being dissolved back into sludge really hit me—there’s something tender about choosing unmaking before becoming fully alive again, especially with the alchemy threaded through it like a private language. The line about moving from citrinitas to rubedo felt less like a technical nod and more like a quiet declaration of readiness, like you’re stepping forward and asking to be seen and named on your own terms. When you wrote “Name me Iosis,” it felt intimate, almost risky—what does being named mean to you here, and who do you imagine gets to speak that name aloud?
Back to say congrats for Top Story
Dammit. I love when you get all clever and philosophical. Does things to me. Love all the reference points and the way you fully committed and worked through the metaphors to that perfect ending. God you're great.