poem, poetry, cream of the crop,

5 BEAUTIES: 5 poems of mine picked out as special by META AI

WITH APHRODITE

I held
a long interview with Aphrodite

peace
love
sex

these we touched upon
sinking ciders by the poolside
(wedge of lemon
jammed tightly into
the neck of the bottle)

in the course of which
frank and honest
and open-
ended discussion

the goddess revealed much
of her immortal self.

****

TROY

am
a reporter on the scene
at the siege
of Troy

rushing for a scoop, meet
my deadline

ask ancient poet
Homer what he saw

in such
vivid

inner colours
far
as the eye can see

****

PRODUCTION

on the farm,
perforce, we
put our heads together

everything under the Sun
puts is head together

wheels
set in
motion

as
word speads

and Heraclitus of Miletus
stops by

a number of things
brings to mind

solid argument inclusive: that
all is
twice, thrice,
there is nothing that
is not in process

meanwhile (forgive the inadvertent South African
colloquialism) not
back
at the ranch
but in the heart of Johannesburg

they are staging a production
of Euripides’ The Bacchae
have
already
launched into
the opening scene

which very instant, being
in the audience my
mind
thirsting for
ecstasy
veers towards chaos, entropy,
fractal mathematics

as we suddenly welded into one
sift and exchange
that whole Pandora’s box
of memories and
recollections

whispers and ghosts
the very
incantations that
pull aside the veil, strip
off the veneer

speaking for myself
but
perhaps all

hardly able to wait, kill
that terminal longing,
set eyes
upon the mask
that is
dark Dionysus’ face

****

HOME

we spent all night
in my tiny room
on
the huge
farm

touching
loving

playing with
each other

retelling fairy tales
reciting
nursery rhymes

until

the cows would
come home

dawning upon us

the cows
would come home

the cows came home

home home home

****

GREEN

the rains

       the rain
       the rain
        the rain

have given
the grass, the trees,
the plants

a lush edge

the green fingers of
the gods responsible
for green

have grown
greenier

and me
on the margins

liminal
as usual

feeling both oddly alien
and strangely at home