Fragments from the Gone World
XII
Dionysus
was a god who could
take a joke.
In one of his plays
Aristophanes gave him
diarrhea in Hell
and the wine god
did not strike him dead
on the spot for blasphemy.
But, it is said,
Aristophanes later died of drink.
XIII
The Romans could not
subdue the Jews
so they destroyed them –
burned Jerusalem
down to the ground
killed every man
woman and child
that they found
wandering the olive-tree wasteland
or weeping in mud huts.
Except for the Sicarii,
those Dagger Assassins
who holed up at Masala.
They killed their own women
and children and then
they killed themselves
down to the last man standing
who sliced through his own throat.
XIV
A monk rubs his tonsured head
and dips his brush
in Northumbrian
hematite dust to paint a dragon’s face
surrounding the holy logos of John.
Heathens pull their ships ashore
and bang their axes
against the iron bosses of limewood shields.
The monk pauses, listening, his brush held
up, dripping red above the page.
from Eavesdropping in Plato’s Café
Featured Print: L.A. Fragmentation by Linda Lyke
Arroyo Images: L.A. Fragmentation is from a series of prints focused on the contradiction between the densely populated areas that surround the Arroyo and its pristine isolation, illustrating a fragmenting of nature and city.