by Theodore Eisenberg
Cy Twombly, Achilles Mourning the Death of Patroclus, 1962. Cy Twombly Foundation via Two Coats of Paint. |
When so many massacred in one
episode, words also assailants.
If you squint at the mourners—
feet, hands and heads break away,
dissipate into the sanctuary’s hazy
walls—and you begin to understand
how families dissolve into scapes.
But if you hearken with care, you
hear cries from the wooden panels,
whispers from the crevices. These
the unsaid, now spoken, silences of
once. But if you attend with a foolish
heart, and hear song and laughter
teem from wood and brick, you dream.
Theodore Eisenberg retired from the practice of labor law in 2014 to write. When words seem too restrictive, he paints. His poems have appeared in The Aurorean, Thema, Rattle, Slipstream Press, Crosswinds Press, Lighthouse Literary Journal, Main Street Rag, concis, Philadelphia Stories, Aji Magazine, Every Writer, Blue Mountain Review, Valley Voices, Hamilton Stone Review, Rust & Moth, The Ekphrastic Review, and many other journals. His chapbook This was published by Finishing Line Press in 2017.