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Transmigration for the Spirit

Transmigration for the Spirit “poetry—that most portable of arts” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 13 The most portable of arts, a poem rides The waves and centuries, right across our hearts And in them, through them. The oceanic tides Are what they sometimes feel...

Heroes, Victims, and Poseidon

Heroes, Victims, and Poseidon The metre of ancient Greek poetry succeeds in “achieving a length and complexity that are unusual in the heroic verse of other literature.” ~ Michael Grant, The Rise of the Greeks, 325, as quoted in Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 16....

The Paltry Importance of Royal Families: Ashoka’s Abhisheka

The Paltry Importance of Royal Families:          Ashoka’s Abhisheka Why mention families in carvings on Your stele, or other unimportant things Like genealogy, your father gone To be among his ancestors, those kings Not worthy of your note? The high shaped rock...

Rapping in Ancient Greece

Rapping in Ancient Greece If only rappers spoke in ancient Greek, We wouldn’t have abominable rhymes A mile a minute, everything too sleek And slick and sick, full of sexual crimes. If only rappers spoke an ancient tongue In which the notion of rhyme, rhyme, rhyme,...

Paradox

               Paradox The beautiful young scholar here today Is suffering from a cold. He has to stop And wipe his nose and sniffles to allay The itching, slimy, irritating drop, Drip, drop of mucus. Strong but fragile there Behind his books and laptop, he prepares...