Jerome Rothenberg

For a second book of Retrievals (in progress)

 

ATHENS 2008                                                         “Urns & Sarcophagi”

for Stavros Deligiorgis

 

The Mourning Women

 

they pull

their hair

& tears run down

like M’s

 

.

 

 

A Sorrowing Sailor

 

abandoned & alone

 

.

 

 

Heroes

 

like dibbiks

the untimely

dead

 

.

 

 

A Row of Men

 

a fish in

every hand

 

.

 

 

Mistress of the Animals (1)

 

2 wolves

1 bull

2 birds

a serpent

& a fish

between her legs

 

.

 

 

Mistress of the Animals (2)

 

a large bird

forward

a jack rabbit

at her back

 

.

 

 

Medusa Furens

 

tongue askew

& flashing eyes

 

.

 

 

White Vases

 

filled with

water

cleanse

the dead

 

.

 

 

A Small Man

 

girded round

by eyes

 

.

 

 

Psyche

 

my mind

a butterfly

 

.

 

 

a man without a face

holds up a cup

 

a man in a red sweater

sits here too

 

 

October/November 2008