When I am old, I’ll go in haste
to Dionysia, drape my flesh
in chiton, gauzy gold,
wreathe peonies, adonis
in my silver hair and part
my lips to taste the incense
in the air. I’ll scramble there,
my lone breast spilling
from my dress, face scraped,
shoulder scarred, my good arm
broken off by illness, man
or accident. Body in crisis,
I’ll make haste to Dionysus.

Amanda Quaid is a New York-based poet. Her debut collection, No Obvious Distress, is forthcoming from John Murray Press in 2025.

Marble statue of an old woman
Roman
14–68 CE

Although this statue is known familiarly as The Old Market Woman, it probably represents an aged courtesan on her way to a festival of Dionysus, the god of wine.