…to invoke solely the weaker arguments and yet triumph
is a talent worth more than a hundred thousand drachmae.
~ Aristophanes, Clouds
Despite the velvet rhetoric and carefully coated
Evasion of the simple truth (what is truth)-
Man’s heart is desperately wicked
And deceitful above all things -
Guile is the blueprint of his tongue
Often spoken softly so we lean in
Grasping to hear the whispered promises of his words
Until whispers evolve into the roar of tyranny
Enslaving both the unwary and not.
Aeschylus: "Agamemnon"
A man in exile
Feeds himself on barren hope
Yields to fate in time
Aeschylus: "Prometheus Unbound"
Life's hard lesson
Wrong is shameful in the old
Time instructs us all
Sophocles: "Philoctetes"
Words not deeds rule men
Shaped to meet the moment's need
Waging war with fate
Sophocles: "Antigone"
Courage to choose right
And 'gainst harsh reality
Make no compromise
Aristophanes: "Lysistrata"
Poet's plea for peace
Fair breezes speed us onward
Making love not war
Euripides: "Alcestis"
Time will console you
Walk to the end of old age
The dead are nothing
Aristophanes, my favourite Attic writer,
When he had pen in hand, was a fighter
Politics and poetics: his precious topics
I know not politics, he loved but poetics
Aristophanes, my favourite Attic writer,
Clung this man to clouds I know tighter
For his Clouds disperse all our doubts
But his Birds shroud my eyes with clouds
Aristophanes, my favourite Attic writer,
Men by his pen fly so sky high lighter
His Frogs I hear, Brekakekex croak, croak
My nose now tickles for his Wasps - poke
Jan. 17, 2021 (Originally posted on Dec. 16, 2020)
COMPLETELY YOUR CHOICE (43)any form any theme Poetry Contest
Contest sponsor: Brian Strand
tamed tragedy wept
whooshing wail crept
vying voluptuous trait
callous comedy create
mystic metamorphoses moaned
felon form cloned
like taunted torrent
rustic waves rent
hoisted horizon etched
same spell scorched
and tuned touches
fostering felon form
dark drama danced
into traitorous trance.
'29:03:22:09:17
Note: Dedicated to Aristophanes, the father of Comedy.
What killed Socrates.
a weed or Aristophanes?
What caused an end so dire?
The law or just satire?
The cries of ignorant crowds.
or something in 'The Clouds'?
Be born (or get born if you prefer)
If you are a woman – Give birth
Remember your name when in a foreign land
(If you don't have one make one up)
Breathe only air and at the appropriate time
Drink wine (but not with living fish or gators)
Take walks on the beach (remember feet and sandals)
Open a door with at least one hand
(Close it with another)
Buy security
Read Aristophanes
Borrow a car, (one with gas and a woman inside)
Borrow a woman (Catholic, Jewish or atheist will do)
*Teeth are important
Brush teeth - “yours” and “hers” (use different brushes)
Build a house (one with windows and oceans inside)
Scratch an itch - only using your spouse or lover (Never use your nose)
Put the trash out (starting with your spouse if they are dirty or ugly)
Go to war....with bacteria
Go to peace (found under flower petals and under the covers of night)
Diet and die (but not in any particular order)
Follow this list to Acapulco - another list will follow
Follow that list to its conclusion (never lose it)
*This is a didactic poem. It is also a "List" poem.
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