Clare Pollard
A Greek Morning
As much as they hoped, there was no leprosy -
my body pulping to the symbol of the mind they say I have.
The tragedy was Troilus’s, and I was denied
such catharsis; I simply awake by Diomede
daily, sucked-bone dry by wine and the absences,
cursing my illiterate heart.
He is in a sliding morning sleep,
his hirsute back bared like a boar’s,
his fingers, their pads fleshy as dates, circling my rim.
I slip my skull from his arm-pit, re-align myself with him,
and he murmurs Criseyde, a name I believe
means false in Troy.
Who am I if those seven letters are abstracted?
The name has slipped from my mind.
Must I spend my days in predictable deceits,
a breathing allegorical character?
When I cry out for Troilus in the night
is it truth I am wet for?
Last week, I am told, Troilus died with low laughter
on his lips, for the lust he expended on me,
died wishing the whole of his heart had been God’s.
Diomede’s sweat smears my skin
with its signature notes of thyme and garlic.
He yawns warmly, disturbed by his cock crowing;
I try to elide my breaths. My sweet Troilus,
I always knew that you would stop loving me,
and I pushed and I pushed until your love spiralled
from my wintered fingers like a dry leaf.
I always told myself your love was less than mine,
and it was true.
Page(s) 53
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