Hades
My mind clings to the love song I wanted to sing for you, opposite the deadly rhapsody sung to you by Hades, foggy and indiscernible memory before He took you away, my beloved, my heaven, my constantly heartfelt euphoria, I miss you
—Don’t forget to pick up the garbage can with both arms: it’s heavy for your ailing heart
Hades lurked behind the old oak we passed on our last walk through the glen, where I’m now stranded in the dark forest where nymphs rarely appear
—Don’t forget to buy me a box of serviettes when you go to the drugstore.
Absurd, that I feel like singing a love song for you and the phone rings and takes me away from my thoughts as if to bring me good news: I’m alive, I can still love you forever, better than the absurdity of serenading the phone receiver as if it makes my loneliness go away
—Which cereal did you buy this time? You know I like chocolate Cheerios.
Yet during the purple twilight, I mesmerize my mind with the absurd thought of peace, singing a love song to an unknown listener while the missiles keep falling on bald heads and corpses of soldiers, and you’re gone forever
—Why don’t we go on a cruise next month? We have the time, don’t we?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763769

Memento of Constantinople
on the marble quay of the palace,
they have placed, in an almost straight line,
piles of wood
barges brought from distant
shore forests
and other piles from thin
lissome trunks like a Kore’s body
and other piles
of gigantic, huge
trees
it constantly rains and the persistent rain
drenches the graceless woods
and the marble of the quay gleam
as the water washes them repeatedly
and the sky is heavy and black,
one wonders if anyone knows what time it is,
there is no hope for any of that
(The opposite shore has vanished
as if it never existed)
and the sea is moody and wild
as if the endless raindrops that hit it
have awakened a strong anger inside it
that it can hardly hold back
no one else is in this deserted place
other than I, the same one, and
I stand with my drenched red hair
glued onto my forehead
the travails of love have brought me here
to the tender seashore
and my mind always flies to a beautiful
proud magnolia
that thrives and blooms
in this place

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763734

AND THERE were some days when we lost heart when some
appeared coming our way from afar; what news did
they bring to us we asked?
Leave us in our misfortune, why do we want these deeds,
we, the defeated since the ancient days as the sundown
came though they never asked for our approval. Thus in order
to survive a clear forehead was enough
and we spoke but a little until night fell.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087367R7C

Nuance
Behind unfurled flags
and the horizon wall we searched
by borders and crests
deciphering lost codes
plumbed caverns just below
the sideburns of the fat general
beyond prison barbwire fences
and straitjacket ideals
we took arms for an image
but didn’t find one god
the general polished his stars
pronouncing God extinct
and people reveled in the square
foreseeing his verdict

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0981073565

Archean
Clutching on air a stony totem
godly apparition of rekindled memory
ancient stone made anew
primeval man made of lithos
frosty and elegantly crafted
systemic description of logos
in free spirited wilderness and
the sky concurs and
always returns to its first love
earth’s bosom
archean sphagnum and
delicate stimulant of life
the Inukshuk with open arms salutes
stray animal and man lost in foggy
winter land, ray of hope lit
by love of beast for beast and
relation of abstract to evident

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763424

Athena
Athena smiled at me when I observed
that everything fit in its position
nothing jutted out of place
in all the sandy corners of the earth
but the palm tree beseeching
its skyward direction when
early in life I learned
of my secret love: sea
dark blue and merciless
inviting and ardent punisher
of sins told and sanctified
when the goddess chose
to make a marble cenotaph
and to erect my statue which
would speak of greatness
true demagogue that I was
with a vague smile
upon my face
she then placed a wilted daffodil
and a fiery red carnation
over my heart
it was a sad day when
I drank water to become diaphanous
before I vanished into the sea’s
deep blue embrace

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BKHW4B4S

Hermaea II
Perhaps because they indicated distances and rested
the passersby and perhaps for other reasons which were
forgotten through the years, Hellenes felt true reverence
for Hermaea, especially the common people and the young
boys and girls —
who during their evening stroll in
the summer, would stop in the road for some time and
look at the piles, to which they dedicated fruits,
sweets and small animals (birds or rabbits), they also
crowned their well-groomed heads with branches
and wreaths made of flowers, since they, with their pure
instinct felt something beyond reverence;
in fact, during
the festivals, as a sign of their high respect, they touched
their lips or phalluses (which they always firmly supported
to look erected) thus drawing strength for the days when,
irreversibly, the festivities would end.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9X3VPN4