THE TOURIST
In Greece
I walk through ruins and museums
with a camera around my neck
The shutter inside me
clicking
Monthly Archives: December 2000
CABBIES OF ATHENS
CABBIES OF ATHENS
Chaos pounds over dead civilizations
horns blare battle cries, fists shake the air
Taxi driver warriors slash and stab
and play pirate with the meter
And woe befall the coward fare
who doubts their courage and their skill
by any attempt to buckle up that belt
BELOW THE ACROPOLIS – MARCH 2000
BELOW THE ACROPOLIS – MARCH 2000
In the Agora
bright red flowers
from seeds older than Socrates or wisdom
Converse among the grasses
and look up
at the temple covered hill
APHRODITE HOTEL
APHRODITE HOTEL
At the Aphrodite Hotel
Moon and Acropolis
full in our window
Greece is so lubricating
GROWING YOUNGER – GREECE 2000 A.D.
GREECE 2000 A.D.
Standing in front of the statues of the wise
noting how very wise they were
To be born at a ripe old age
and grow younger every year
Socrates for instance
(469-399)
certainly got it right
being born at seventy
and working backwards
to that point
of light
IN GREECE
IN GREECE
In Greece
I remember and meet
myself everywhere
I am Socrates questioning
I am the athlete striving
the architect planning
the builder building, the potter shaping
the sculptor seeking, the warrior dying
and the poet pointing
In Greece
I am all men and all gods as well
and I remember
How many times in this life alone
I have pushed the rock endlessly uphill
Carried the world on my shoulders
Had my liver eaten by the savage bird
How many times
I have fallen in love with my own
reflection
Reached out for the sweet grapes and
sweet water
to find them moving always beyond my
grasp
Been forced to echo only what others
have said
Tied myself to the mast to resist the
siren’s call
Fought in a thousand wars
full out on the open field or sea
or hidden in the belly of a wooden horse
GREECE – INDEPENDENCE DAY 2000
GREECE – INDEPENDENCE DAY 2000
We stand in the sunlight of Athens
birthplace of democracy, philosophy
theatre and reason
Here man first learned true freedom
Created gods
in the image of his vices and his virtues
and learned to embrace and best them all
Stores in Athens close for the parade
people gather from miles around
For hours past the viewing stand
soldiers and sailors march in step
Overhead the jets and choppers
roar by in strict formation
Thirty deep and more
people push and flow and smile on cue
I search the marchers and the crowd
Looking for that one toga, one book
One independent mind
One ancient Greek
OLYMPIC GAMES
OLYMPIC GAMES
In ancient Greece
the athlete was admired
statues raised in his honor
Olympic games every four years
the basis for the whole Greek calendar
Modern Olympics forget the Greek Ideal
of sound mind in sound body
Forget the many statues of the wise
Forget that Olympic games contained
display and competition
in poetry, in music, and in drama
In the modern Olympics every four years
a new sport is voted in
I vote to add the balance back
OLIVE OIL
OLIVE OIL
In Greece last week
I bought a bottle of extra virgin olive oil
Which is a bit more expensive than the
regular virgin kind
I expect that it is due to the labor involved
tying all the branches apart
So that they don’t even touch themselves
KAROLINA
KAROLINA
Artist Laureate of Mykanos
her adopted town floats above the canvas
Windmills dance on the hills
church domes and white houses
rebound light across the narrow lanes
Ships bob on the bluest water
watched by pink pelican and faithful dog
In her pictures, handsome Greek men
work the boats and bars
Forty years from Boston town
she knows too much of these men
but the island nights get cold
Her art raised their two children
it cost a lot
But to marry one of these
patriarchetypical sons of pirates
would have cost more soul
than this artist or her art would pay