Poseidon & Medusa

On this wet rock you come,
my hair around your waist
in streams like ocean foam;
the pressured salty taste
rests upon my tongue.
As we swallow the night
the morning rises stung
and stained with our delight.
Here in this temple crows
are swelling from the altar
screaming the holy vows
I promised I would keep.
I have done much more than falter
and vengeance never sleeps.

Daedalus & Icarus

Without your road to walk
along I carve the air
unbound, unmoored, I stare
unheard, I lie unlocked,
heart-blocked and buried here
in an oceanic maw
of memory and awe,
of history and fear.
There is no freedom. Bars
adorn the fairest cage
open to air and stars.
We’ve had enough of hate
to burden every age.
I’ll exit from my own gate.

Helen & Menelaus

Here is the arrow’s scar,
still stiff, it goes straight through,
reminding me of you;
reminding me from far
years past of the men tossed
in arms, their faces stilled
in fright, not noble, just killed,
who won less than they lost.
Yet here I am: old man,
dry husk of brittle eyes,
blind ears, deaf mouth; I can
no longer lift the sword
that won my fickle prize
who turned upon a word.