Caryatid

Renege on the rock! Smash

the oppressor cave! Sashay

out onto the floor! Scorn the cornices—

see, from the beard of drunk Silenus

from the unique uproar of his blood

the wine dribble into his genitals!

Spit on the obsession with pillars:

ancient rheumatic hands quake toward

gray skies. Bring down the temple

by the yearning of your knees

twitching with dance.

Spill, spread, unpetal, bleed

your soft flowers through great wounds.

Dove-hauled Venus girds her loins

with roses—

see the summer’s last puff of blue

drift on seas of asters to distant

pine-brown coasts; see

this final hour of our mendacious

southern happiness   

held aloft.