as Below, so Above

Fleet Hermes offered to take Ares' place
snared by Hephaestos in the smith-god's bed.
Imagining the Goddess' embrace
bright ichor floods his visage hectic red.
The cuckold seems less sanguine for his part
deluded he might be the only one
to stoke the fires in Aphrodite's heart.
As if she'd given thought beyond what's fun.
Athena saw no reason here for mirth;
she'd seen such passions playing out before.
On high Olympus, or on lowly Earth
the fleeting love's prelude to grinding war.
No less than his Achaean kings and queens
Homeric gods seem hormone-addled teens.

Rhymes with Orange

The siblings he had never known in life
embrace their newest brother as their own.
The bargain--in addition to a wife--
now--at a stroke--gets family, and home.
From Orange, to Seattle, (and return?)
the trek you'd never charter in advance
by way of tending forests as they burn
shows human will triumphant over Chance.
Contracted freely by a human hand,
no clergy need intrude in this domain
No fictive Power hanging over Man
needs mediate when Ian met Jermaine.
When speeches, pomp, and pageantry are done,
two lives united joyously make one.

injudicious

Barbaric Hector gave Greek values voice
upbraiding Paris for the fall of Troy.
Olympians had punted on this choice,
demurring to a Trojan shepherd boy.
When goddesses contend, no choice is right;
the Special Master's doomed before he speaks.
To claim the dame deemed best in mortals' sight
condemns his city-State to death by Greeks.
Fair Aphrodite tried to shield her whelp
down in the melee, where the blows fell thick.
not even Ares could have been much help;
there's no good end to thinking with one's dick.
Penelope works tireless at her loom;
she'll wait another lifetime, if she must.
Two souls so knit, they share a single doom
True love's not predicated on mere lust.
Blind Homer's not enthralled by flashy looks;
His vision's clear--to those who'll plumb his books.

Love and Death

Fleet-footed Thetis just can't understand
how could her darling love what's doomed to die?
The gods had given her to such a man,
but she'd felt no affection for the guy.
This demi-god's more rooted in the world;
eternity's for deities above.
While Zeus fucks every pretty boy and girl
In Patrocles, he's lost his one true love.
Fair Helen launched the action on our stage,
but then retreated to a minor role.
Achilles is the wonder of his age;
the all-consuming war's his to control.
The paragon that Greeks aspired to be
mourns for his therapon, like it was he.

Helen II

The king of Sparta bored his trophy wife
Who ditched him for a smooth-cheeked Asian lad.
There followed twenty years of grief, and strife
that wreaked destruction on her boytoy's dad.
Peleides was moved to wrath, in turn;
a lesser man'd made off with his due prize.
For such a slight, Acheans' ships must burn
'til Agamemnon would apologize.
Fair Aphrodite earned the poet's scorn
his heroes should respond to something higher.
But from the sundry lands where they'd been born
more than sailed home would ride the soldiers' pyre.
Hermione gave more cause for civic pride;

her husband kept her duly satisfied.

despair

To reassure herself that she's still hot
each frantic pick-up butts against the next.
Each night, out clubbing, shaking what she's got
Her need for love's unsatisfied with sex.
Each binge just makes her crave another time
but with another lover, not this one.
Each morning sun reveals another line
and introspection never does get done.
The same old stimulus just can't excite
the oxytocin circuits like before.
Realization's dawning, night by night
that what she needs is different, not more.
No one-night lover can assuage her pain
the way the needle snuggles with her vein.

partisans

Grey-eyed Athena/
drove a spear into Ares/
Each got yellow cards

Grim Ares bellowed as the cold bronze cut
no mortal'd ever channelled so much hate.
But Diomedes pierced His perfect gut
and Pallas lent his thrust immortal weight.
The contest Eris doomed Men to contend
was underway; the House had locked in odds!
The Fates who'd spun the threads are loathe to bend;
they're senior even to the eldest gods.
His sister Aphrodite'd done her part
inciting Helen to betray her man.
'Though wars are blithely started from the heart
the victory's to him who has a plan.
Athena dotingly cares for her own;
for wise Odysseus, love waits at home.

solipsist

Two swallows loop and swoop and bill and bond,
as if between the twain, they shared one mind.
A pas de deux split by the glassy pond;
this pair are  closest kin, and more than kind.
A mirror cosmos, swapping left for right,
accessible at water's interface.
Insensible to scent, but plain to sight
might fill--like ours--infinity of space.
Each swoop, the partner's there to keep the date,
no straying eye could tease the pair apart.
Narcissus and his true-love strain to mate;
four wings in sync beat to a single heart.
To love the Other like one's self seems right,
but this one's just a trick of bending light.

Everything is Illuminated

One swallow skims the surface swooping low,
and his reflection rises to the bait.
His likeness and his image, head-to-toe;
Narcissus and his true-love strain to mate.
Another world, the twin to this, our own,
just one of many painted by Monet.
What strange Intelligence might call it "home"
Is more than 4-D mortal man can say.
Two worlds encounter at the mirror-plane
Or so 'twould seem, exchanging left for right.
It took a Snell to lucidly explain
the symmetry of such reflected light.
String theorists insist on seven more
dimensions, but can't make clear what they're for.

chayya Sarah

A slave plays out the type-scene at the spring
for Yitzhak, who must never leave the Land.
Enticing her with camels, gold, and ring
(the last is for her nose, not for her hand).
His master'd charged him: "Go and take a wife!
But do so for the one who can't be there"
Although that ram redeemed his forfeit life,
Our jealous God's still disinclined to share.
By now, Laban weighed harsh on Rivka's nerves
And prospects in her hometown rated low.
This unseen prince could be what she deserves;
she didn't hesitate to say "let's go!".
The match his mother took no time to find
was left to God when he tried dating blind.

Penelope

Odysseus retired to his own realm
to bask in sunsets with Penelope.
Laid down his oar, relinquished his ship's helm--
let others teach Telemachos the Sea.
Athena's living image, here on Earth,
the wife a king aspires to, if he's wise
a partner of inestimable worth.
Let fools chase Aphrodite's wiles and lies.
Grey gulls scream on Aiaia's wintry shore
as if no Spring could ever come again.
Grave Circe's washed her hands of kings, and war;
there's too  much pain tied to the lives of men.
The poet's hero came unscathed through Troy
by steering always toward his one true joy.

Re'eh

Re'eh makes clear, the ger is free to eat
the chazerei the other nations do
the laws of kashrut circumscribing meat
don't obligate him as they would a Jew.
It's we who feel the obligation's bite
to love him as we would one of our own
be he an atheist, or proselyte,
or worshipper or idols carved in stone.
The pharaohs treated refugees as things
to buy as concubines for so much grain.
But we, who deign to serve no earthly kings
must empathize with every Other's pain.
The inward-focused shtetyl-Jew can't shine
the Light unto the Nations that's divine.

Beren

The stars wheeled over Beren, unremarked
as Luthien danced on the forest green
a timeless interval, shared in the dark
the hero captive to his elfin queen
her disapproving father posed a test
intending it would cost her swain his life
but Melian perceived his merit best
a worthy son-in-law for such a wife.
The silmaril they prized from Morgoth's crown
was holier than any wolf could stand
the two made common cause with Huan, the hound
to bring her brideprice in his severed hand.
Love's undeterred by class, or age, or race
in Tolkien's MiddleEarth, or anyplace.

timeless

The Tolkien trilogy leaves worlds unsaid
cosmology goes wholly unexplained
we only learned, once JRR laid dead
what publisher and author had disdained.
But posthumously, Chris reploughed that  field
exposing what laid buried to the light
whole cultures and their biases revealed
now readers 'round the globe thrill to their plight.
Grand myths, inscribed on vellum, clay, or wax
transcend the mere historian's dry art
announcing truths, transcending puny facts
that resonate directly in the heart.
The glories of a long-forgotten age
evoked by static ink on fragile page.

purpose

the lady Eowyn despaired of life
where all the Riddermark sank in decay
the prospect that she might be Wormtongue's wife
appalled her noble spirit with dismay
to fall in battle would allay death's sting
and woe to him that met her thus, berserk
with Merry, she unstrung the Morgul king
a dainty piece of woman's handiwork
a new Age dawned and her depression passed
a whole society ungripped its fear
the future that had left her so aghast
seemed brighter in the arms of Faramir
each day, our minds rebuild our worlds anew
and love can change the whole construction's hue

Marxists read Tolkien V

Sam gazed in wonder at Galadriel
as if Dawn blazed in dusky MiddleEarth
inert, anaesthetized by beauty's spell
acutely conscious of his puny worth
if Celeborn were wiser, he'd discern
how far above his station he had wed
but even he's not dumb enough to spurn
this mighty Noldo hot to share his bed
the timeless moment passed, the tale moved on
a brief vignette of love transgressing class
'though Bilbo might recast it in a song
Sam'd never dream to call his host an ass
to think such thoughts encrimsoned Sam's coarse face
a worthy gard'ner knows a peasant's place

Marxists read Tolkien IV

Sam gazed in wonder at Galadriel
unchanging as the years fade MiddleEarth
inert, anaesthetized by beauty's spell
acutely conscious of his puny worth
if Celeborn were wiser, he'd discern
how far above his station he had wed
but even he's not dumb enough to spurn
this mighty Noldo hot to share his bed
the timeless moment passed, the tale moved on
a brief vignette of love transgressing class
'though Bilbo might recast it in a song
Sam'd never dream to call his host an ass
to think such thoughts encrimsoned Sam's coarse face
a worthy gard'ner knows a peasant's place

Marxists read Tolkien III

Sam gazed in wonder at Galadriel
unaging architect of MiddleEarth
inert, anaesthetized by beauty's spell
acutely conscious of his puny worth
if Celeborn were wiser, he'd discern
how far above his station he had wed
but even he's not dumb enough to spurn
this mighty Noldo hot to share his bed
the timeless moment passed, the tale moved on
a brief vignette of love transgressing class
'though Bilbo might recast it in a song
Sam'd never murmur that his host's an ass
to think such thoughts encrimsoned Sam's coarse face
a worthy gard'ner knows a peasant's place

Marxists read Tolkien II

Sam gazed in wonder at Galadriel
a puissant Elvish force in MiddleEarth
inert, anaesthetized by beauty's spell
acutely conscious of his puny worth
if Celeborn were wiser, he'd discern
how far above his station he had wed
but even he's not dumb enough to spurn
this mighty Noldo hot to share his bed
the timeless moment passed, the tale moved on
a brief vignette of love transgressing class
'though Bilbo might recast it in a song
Sam'd never murmur that his host's an ass
to think such thoughts encrimsoned Sam's coarse face
a worthy gard'ner knows a peasant's place

Marxists read Tolkien

Sam gazed in wonder at Galadriel
insensible to sound, or light, or pain
inert, anaesthetized by beauty's spell
all blood's diverted from the Hobbit's brain
if Celeborn were wiser, he'd discern
how far above his station he had wed
but even he's not dumb enough to spurn
this mighty Noldo hot to share his bed
the timeless moment passed, the tale moved on
a brief vignette of love transgressing class
'though Bilbo might recast it in a song
Sam'd never murmur that his host's an ass
to think such thoughts encrimsoned Sam's coarse face
a worthy gard'ner knows a peasant's place