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