THE BETHSAIDA PRINCIPLE    [Stefanie Bennett]

 

 

He called by, around noon,

Selling assorted Gods

Door to door:

Said his name

Was Caiaphas and wouldn’t

I want salvation’s decor

Comforting

Kith and kin

In a catch-

As-catch-can

Situation.

Well, maybe...

 

If the albatross knew

The way out

Of this lyric-less graveyard.

If I could

Touch the sky foam.

Hear – adrift,

A dog-star’s proximity...

The ‘spiller’

Leaned

Leeward

 

And vanished.

 

 

 

FREEZE   [Stefanie Bennett]

 

 

It’s official. Some of us were scapegoats

Balancing on the tip

Of tyranny’s thumb

Seeking incandescent statutes

By way of compromise.

 

Still others

(The blessed ordinary),

Come to mind...

 

The ones cushioning a prisoner’s

Ribcage after the bird

Had flown.

The sandal-maker

Detonating chains

 

... And the ventriloquist

Vocalising “Romiosini”* under

An informer’s gaze, These

The ‘Jaws of the Earth’+

Will claim.

 

 

{* From a poem by Yannis Ritsos – “Greekness”.

+ Appears on a countryside fresco at Asinou, Cyprus}

---