Book Four (13 March 2023)

Size,

Colour,

Attracted 

Sidelong glances

In locker showers

From boys used to drop trou,

Oxford cloth ubiquity.



A

Goddess

Empowered 

Diomedes

Speared dead Pandaros,

Heaved stone at Aineias,

Whom Aphrodite swept off.



Third

Lecture,

Lineage

For male offspring 

Of gods, goddesses,

Notable fathers, sung

Before obliteration.



Bus

Discharged

Visiting 

Team, wearing their

Navy blazers, school 

Rep ties: Connecticut 

Prep school, varsity players.



Pawns

Of Zeus,

Battlefield 

Paired mortals, gods:

Diomedes with

Athena; Aineias, 

Apollo; Hektor, Ares.



Fourth

Lecture,

Ideals of

Manhood shared: thoughts

Articulated; 

All actions disciplined;

A martial education.



On

Homefield,

Opposing 

Players streamed in,

Homogeneous 

Wall of blue eyes, blond hair,

Pristine blue, white uniforms.



Host,

And guest,

Their fathers'

Past roles invoked, 

Diomedes, and 

Glaukos declined to fight

Each other, exchanged armour.



Fifth

Lecture,

Within walls,

Handmaidens wove

Threads through looms for robes,

Without, warriors stripped 

Bloody armour from corpses.



By

Playbook 

Quarterback, 

Coach, stuck to tried-

And-true strategies

On offensive drive, failed

To spot home interception.



Bribed

Brother 

Judged goddess

Beauty, Helen

Won, Alexandros

Chafed at consequences,

Hektor submitted to yoke.



Typed,

Thumbtacked,

Dining hall 

Chart rotated

Waiters, and busboys-

Certified amateurs-

Tasked with freight of kitchen food.



Home

Team won,

Thanks to arm

Of quarterback,

Passes fielded based

On intuition for

Which experts neglected drills.



God,

Goddess 

Mused, Hektor,

Trojan, Aias,

Greek, would fight apart,

Man against man: spears thrown 

At shields; spears plunged; boulders hurled.




Prep

School old

Boy toured his

One-time dorm, where

New boy son now lived,

Relieved in its bathroom 

At adjoining urinals.



Team

Players

Surged forward

To pat helmet 

Of their quarterback,

Lifted on two sides from

Behind, carried him off field. 



Fight 

Ended

By heralds

As night arrived, 

Hektor, and Aias

Exchanged gifts as two friends,

Proven by their battle strengths.



Tossed

Among

Wet towels piled

On locker room 

Floor for collection

By student attendant,

Jockstrap stamped: 'Property of.'




{18 stanzas/page}


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