Scorn
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
“Enargeîs is the technical term ‘for divine epiphany:
a word that contains the dazzle of “white,” argós, which
comes to designate a pure, unquestionable “conspicuous-ness” ’ ”.
~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 19
I wonder if perhaps we moderns know
This brilliant whiteness much more clearly than
The ancients did. They made their temples glow
With painted color like the rainbow span
…..
But more intense. The goddess and the god
Were daubed with firmest tints of red and gold,
Blues, reds, greens—strong as emeralds. How odd
That seems to us when what we know is bold
Severest white divinities and stone
Carved columns. Noontime light in Greece
Reveals the purest color for a throne,
A god’s own seat that might hold Jason’s fleece.
..Before the gods became poetic wares,
….Divinities appeared as white-hot glares.