Antinous

By Seth Copeland 

 

delphi 1893

     a sharp carnelian ambrotype

                         peasants w/ shovels     demotic asides

              at their unearthed     armless form

                                     lover boy of the pax romana

                landslide framed     a rough tondo

features scratched     still perfect

    firm neck     hyperreal

next to soiled tan excavators

                 restless mustaches     some blurred

    forever to Cycladic blanks by camera impatience

war sons broke     rebuilding

emperor’s favorite     he fought lions

              Nile drowned beautiful

     made god in death by an emperor’s grief

Osiris wrapped     honeyed in Egypt

                  marble hardened     cocoon marl

      none of these men built temples

to lovers     here only Hellenia

           spent youth in dust   a promise

  of new floods

About the Author

Seth Copeland is the founding editor of petrichor. His work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Yes Poetry, Kestrel, Southwestern American Literature, Random Sample, and SOFTBLOW, among others. He teaches in the OKC metro. You can also find him @SethTCopeland on Twitter.

Discovering Antinous Delphi, Greece