Feb 21, 2007

Figures of Old Greece

Figures of Old Greece


If grace can be defined
from masculinity to feminineness, the angular
or the soft, the sharp shapes of male bodies, I'd be
the female-like curve of a vase, I'd be the soft-to-
softly-fading brown color inside of it, outside of it,
the postures of Greek athletics--the bodies they
had--bending, modeling the way we normally
see them: one
whose head falls backwards, his whole posture

as though saying Take me Take me, the other
whose right arm is an u-shaped shape around
a grey discus, muscles flexed, upper body
arching to one side to give power to the throw still
to be made. Figures, all Greek. All demonstrating
masculinity
, I think, inside myself, now imagining
an image of a warrior whipping hard his horse
from his chariot, now two figures wrestling For life For glory.
Is that masculine grace? Is it? I ask, and I laugh
a laugh not a laugh. Frustration. What do they have
that we have not better? This dominance between sexes,
is it right? Is it supposed to be like this?
What about the soft feathers of a wing,

the way outstretched it suggest a softness too soft
to be anything else? Is it female then? Is it? Is it
deemed inferior? Like feelings, can't grace be both? The soft
feathers of a falcon wing, for example, doesn't
they demonstrate a feminine beauty in a masculine
form? Why are you so busy relishing in your own
fucking sex
to see another? To make it equal?

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