The temple at nightfall
Patrick Williamson‘s recent poetry collections include Presenza (Samuele Editore). Here and Now and Take a deep look (Cyberwit.net). Editor/translator of Turn your back on the night (The Antonym) and The Parley Tree, Poets from French-speaking Africa and the Arab World (Arc Publications).
Dowries of the Dead
Vergina, Ancient Macedonia
Wreaths of olive, myrtle, oak,
quiver, dry leaves shimmering, as if gracing
living brows of Dion’s kings:
offerings to Thanatos—delicate spring
grains of wheat, fashioned by goldsmiths
as betrothal gifts; resplendent clasps and rings—
small erotes that once caressed
the lobes of princesses, pinned like exotic
lepidoptera with lifeless wings,
their secrets still intact; exquisite
pomegranate pendants
for the throats of queens;
consummately braided metal,
gems and filigree; gold lozenges
to seal the lips of warriors
long after death—the lifeless lustre
speaks amid the silences: a brittle
whisper—gilded oak leaves
oracles of Zeus: even the tomb
must not yield clues to Philip’s fate,
the violent truth—
the purple cloth, the charred bones washed
in wine: the rich and wretched
strivings of another time—
Jena Woodhouse spent more than a decade living and working in Greece. She is the author of twelve book and chapbook publications across several genres, seven of which are poetry titles. You can read more about her here.
MY SURGEON, ZEUS
bore down on
my anaesthetised body.
He held my helpless breast
in his gloved left hand,
the indifferent scalpel
in his right.
Like Leda, I was body –
caught, laid out.
But unlike her, I had agreed –
signed a consent form,
in two places
(without reading it).
After, I was surprised –
not by the flatness
(I knew it from girlhood)
but my skin’s tightness
as if the breast was
still there, zipped up inside,
as if my vital clothes
and passport
had been hastily packed
into a small, overnight bag
so, staggering and terrified,
I could run for the hills.
Kate Hendry’s recent pamphlet, MX SIMP (Mariscat Press), was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Poetry Competition. She is a teacher, living in Scotland.