Pinfall

Ancient Olympic Pankration

grappling within sacred circles
Greco-Roman ruins of stones
competing centers of gravity
heave upon finely combed sands
empires hang in the balance
armies pledged to champions
naked skin-to-skin combat
muscle worth more than sword
sweating pride more than rage
nonetheless only one will survive
on the day as the gods in their
masochist gleam are amused

 

 

From my book Bullets from Bones

Mycenae

Detail from Mycenaean Mural

 

civilized vestiges

yield to the curious

prodding of time

fingers sifting

hourglass eons

anticipate recognized

feel of some form

hinting provenance

ancient of artistry

present with

resonant powers

of bronze era

armies and kings

marched in thrall

of philosopher gods

to their destinies

sleeping in Homer’s

hexameter buried in

Perseid grounds of

the Peloponnese

sounding cultural

echoes of svelte

cosmopolitan open

society steeped

in shared ethics of

foreign engagement

enriched by diverse

prehistorical wisdom

a legacy passed down

through puzzles of

pieces significant

shards awesome

tumbledown ruins

of fine masoned

civilized vestiges

 

 

From my book Pieces of Wine

Eureka

 

Archimedes in Bath – 15th century Book Illustration

 

 

Archimedes discovered
his seminal principle
bathing in ritual waters
where a laurel
dishonest of gold
measured treachery
gravid with greed
and the king put his
smith to the sword
the lesson
from ancients
the lie must
eventually die
while the truth
is immortal

 

 

(originally posted November 2013)

Grecian Seasons

 

“Springtime Landscape” by Rami Benatar

 

 

winter carried by
Demeter’s grief
on a litter of snow
till Persephone
rises from Hades
with fruit in her
womb and the
flowers of spring
in her radiant hair

 

 

(originally posted December 2013)

Orange

 

“Orange Tree” by Leah Saulnier

 

 

fragrance dimples a tropical skin
cloching pharmacies sailors
and snifflers hold dear unaware
“golden apples” bear more than the sun
the Hesperides seeded their garden
for gods not for men

lobes of sour-sweet succulence
brightened Olympian mornings
renewing immortal flesh filling
its powers to bend the world
turning it unto the purpose
of gods not of men

then came into the garden
by labor of stealth half-god
Heracles taking the fruit to his cape
and in making escape let fall
here and there gifts for the gardens
of men not of gods

 

(originally posted December 2013)

Oracle

“Priestess of Delphi” by John Collier

 

oh Pythia
priestess of
vaporous wisdom
arise for this poor
troubled supplicant
stand in the shade
that Apollo
bequeathed you
your pink marbled
thighs astride
fumaroles sweating
your center
your secret skin
dripping with prophecy

he needs the truth
of tomorrow
accept here
his tributes
of laurel and liver
and drachma
please sing him
your verse but
acknowledge that
he is mere peasant
stock mortal
so spare him
inscrutable songs
meant for demigods

kings and half-heroes
did perish at
misunderstanding
your meter but he
has no grandeur
at stake so he begs
simple clarity hoist him
so he may see out
through your eyes
feel your fluids
of foresight
hear the voice
of Olympian winds
in your ears

his dilemma
unfolded his
choices laid down
free from irony
brooking no judgments
wants pointing the
destinies open and
waiting for him but to
act does he fight
to continue life
broken diminished
its damaged course
carried by pain or does
he simply not

(originally posted January 2014)

Old Waters

 

“Water Abstract” Digital Photo by Carlos

 

in the belly of seas
ancient rains
once washed
truths taught
by myths
of Olympus
gave glisten to
Greek golden age
under Pericles
bathed the
inquisitive impulse
of Socrates
seeking for answers
to questions
that in themselves
elevate man
and morality

in the belly of seas
down and deep
the same waters
that nourished
antiquity mix
with new fluids
the discharged
remains of the
modern democracy
drained by neglect
of minds moved
to an arrogant
dryness of dogma
truths fixed by
presumptions of
self-proclaimed
demigods

Pandora

“Pandora” by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

 

reckless of impulse

you loosed on an innocent world

grave forces of darkness

I don’t damn

your naïve

self-indulgence

but defiance of duty

is unforgivable

you were Eve

you were trusted

by Hesiod and all of humanity

with that ugly unopened jar

some mistook for a box

there’s just not enough

redemption

in your having attached feeble hope

to that terrible train

of bleak depredations

no matter what Zeus ever

said in his fatherly heart

your pardon will die and rot

in my silent anger

Pinfall

Ancient Olympic Pankration

grappling within sacred circles
Greco-Roman ruins of stones
competing centers of gravity
heave upon finely combed sands
empires hang in the balance
armies pledged to champions
naked skin-to-skin combat
muscle worth more than sword
sweating pride more than rage
nonetheless only one will survive
on the day as the gods in their
masochist gleam are amused

Imagining Atlantis

 

“Atlantis” by Danila Menshikov

 

 

just yonder the pillars of Hercules
flourished dominion much older
than ancient acquired of luxuries
rich with the conquest of continents

mystical circular cities arranged
with utopian splendor in foster
of freethinking civilization ideal
in its zeal for perfection of mind

till that one day and night of grave
fire and water consumed it and
swallowed it whole leaving only
the vast stormy sea as its wake

did Homer and Hesiod and Pindar
prefigure the dialogues of Plato
did their scholarly tongues transmit
memoir or metaphor unto posterity

we as their fortunate heirs get to
choose it’s our right as philosophers
wont to imagine to postulate truths
that no science is fit to divulge

 

 

From my book Human Waters