This poem is taken from PN Review 198, Volume 37 Number 4, February - March 2011.
from The Greek Anthology
Below the Monument of Lysikrates
My son shouts up to our balcony from the Road of the Tripods
that he's got a new flute, fingers a tune.
All the gods and godlings perk up their ears, the terracotta statuettes
lining the tourist shop fronts, the broken busts
around the Acropolis: Silenus holding up the stage of Dionysus
within sight of our window, Molpos, Apollo, Athena herself.
Once again the victory of the choral festival
is beating time, lifted on this ancient road.
GREGORY OF CORKUS
Party Piece
Sometimes the get-together is unavoidable: a party,
marriage, funeral, function of some sort.
You brace yourself, most people being more
friendly acquaintances than acquainted friends
- even with the latter you feel more at ease meeting one
...
My son shouts up to our balcony from the Road of the Tripods
that he's got a new flute, fingers a tune.
All the gods and godlings perk up their ears, the terracotta statuettes
lining the tourist shop fronts, the broken busts
around the Acropolis: Silenus holding up the stage of Dionysus
within sight of our window, Molpos, Apollo, Athena herself.
Once again the victory of the choral festival
is beating time, lifted on this ancient road.
GREGORY OF CORKUS
Party Piece
Sometimes the get-together is unavoidable: a party,
marriage, funeral, function of some sort.
You brace yourself, most people being more
friendly acquaintances than acquainted friends
- even with the latter you feel more at ease meeting one
...
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