Nietzsche's Children
a selection of poetry
published in 1998 by Geneze
OVID IN EXILE has also been published by Illuminations, South Carolina, USA, and some UK and Romanian magazines.
OVID IN EXILE
ssssssssssssssss So, Publius, here you stand,
ssssssssssssssss in this no-longer Tomis,
ssssssssssssssss far from your Corinna;
ssssssssssssssss all the joys of Rome left for this.
.
ssssssssssssssss Do your bronze eyes
ssssssssssssssss see more than my weary ones?
ssssssssssssssss Are these rusting cranes your new grim women?
ssssssssssssssss Where here do you find the rhythms of your song?
ssssssssssssssss Yes, I'd like to see you laugh on high
ssssssssssssssss or find your blessed middle way here.
.
ssssssssssssssss Or am I just sun-drunk
ssssssssssssssss and railing at that lack of space in heaven?
IN THE PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES
(also published in Hybrid)
ssssssssssss I saw them on the morning train,
ssssssssssssssss judging them to be two bankers,
ssssssssssssssss or perhaps a pair of corporate accountants,
ssssssssssssssss each out to impress the other.
ssssssssssssssss Snatches of their conversation
ssssssssssssssss intrude upon my bleared senses:
ssssssssssssssss 'In the particular circumstances
ssssssssssssssss of which you speak, and
ssssssssssssssss having regard to the environmental influences...'
ssssssssssssssssssssssssss Can people really talk like that?
.
ssssssssssss I saw them on the evening train -
ssssssssssssssss two suits full of tiredness;
ssssssssssssssss their day's work done;
ssssssssssssssss a few creases in their carefully presented images.
ssssssssssssssss No strident conversation now
ssssssssssssssss to disturb my evening peace.
ssssssssssssssss Their murmuring voices only
ssssssssssssssss tell wearily of some mundane defeat.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssss Can people really live like that?
.
ssssssssssssssss Well, in the particular circumstances, and
ssssssssssssssss having regard to the enviromental influences,
ssssssssssssssss it seems that they can.