IN MEMORY OF CENTURION
GAIUS LUCIUS MANIUS
PRIMUS PILUS FIRST COHORT
LEGIO VI VICTRIX
HE SPENT HIS PENSION
IN CISALPINE GAUL
WHERE HE RAN
AN HONEST BROTHEL
HIS FUNERAL WAS GRACED
BY A MURDER OF CROWS
AND GRIEVIOUS LAMENTATIONS
IN THE NAME OF FAIR ISHTAR
DAUGHTER OF SIN AND SHAMASH
BE CAREFUL
Be careful what you ask for
One day life is simple, you ask
a female colleague at a partnering
organization not to call you “doctor”,
“professor” and such, then she says
your name the way a symphony orchestra
tears into the finale of a spirited overture
by Tchaikovsky or Rossini and suddenly
your feeling like the primus pilus, the
first violin, the anchor baton, the broad-
shouldered stroke in an eight-oared shell
or the seminal man with genes of genius
in his jeans: powerful, confident, perhaps
dangerously exposed – a burden you
don’t need
If you’re only doing business,
let formality play its role!
Disuniting each golden silken strand
from an antique tapestry,
then gently setting them aside
An ole' brush is lifted from a bureau,
consumed by silver strands of pilus.
Thread & hair
intricately
interwoven into a
magnificent object-d-art,
now adorns a chair of
satin splendor,
like a laciniate leaf from
slivers of antiquities.
Priceless treasures
brought to light as tender
tiny stitches
collectively fashion
gold and silver of
foregone times.
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