THE WEAVE:

Vesta tosses 'Hivemind'
into the whirlpool
as the Nymphs go diving,
One by One,
after Queen Bee Lilitu.

"Vesta, WTF?" Persephone asks,
"I've never known you
to throw books a Way before."
"I'm frustrated," V furrows,
watching it fall into Eternity.

"Why?" Persephone inquires
sweetly, at her shoulder.
"Because everyone is
alWays telling me
what I am already

doing,"  Vesta says, still
watching the book drop.
"Like what?" Persephone wonders
at her.  "Like, 'Cognitive
Reappraisal,'" Vesta mocks,

in a nasal tone.
"You, 'Take your original
and reflexive appraisals, and
intentionally shift them
to a more productive

set of interpretations,' p. 174.
It's a strategy, for self
regulation.  'Step outside
your tribe, to build relationships
with people different from you,'

p. 248.  Pudding and I do that,
All the Time,"
Persephone stands, shocked,
as Vesta begins to rave,
"Be like the Bees! 

Make fucking honey!
Use fiction, to nudge norms!
'Stories we choose, shape
our realities, and we can choose
narratives that yield

the most prosocial, productive,
humane emotions and outcomes,'
p. 189," Vesta fumes.
"So why are you mad, V?
Can't you just give yourSelves

a pat on the back? Or
a piece of cheese?"
Persephone asks.
"Because it's annoying
to be a lab rat,"

Vesta broods.
Persephone shrugs,
"You change
Pudding.  He changes
you.  It's quantum

entanglement.  You chose
that, when you took him
as a part of yourSelves."
"But WHY do I
alWays have to wander

around in the Dark?!"
Vesta shouts to the Sky
like the Selkie-Penguin
she is.  "Because you are
the Light, V.  Deal with it."

Persephone hugs her
around the waist, and whispers
softly in her ear, "Did you read
page 239?"  "Yes," Vesta crosses
her arms, "Why?"

Persephone smiles, "Lesson V:
Remember that you're not
the DaVinci Code guy."
Vesta resists Persephone's embrace,
"Just because I read

a rule, does not mean
I have to obey it, Sephy.
I'm maintaining that part
of my individuality,
from the Sea

of the collective hivemind."
"Good," Persephone squeezes
V tighter, beaming,
 "I was just testing you,
my little code-breaker."