First, Byzantium

                                                                   then, some tablets

                                                                                                    some theft

                                some Gimme that                 some Yeah

Some records of disbursement:	                  a dead ram 

Then	a head of a woman
a head of a man	      some crowns of acanthus leaves and apples 

                               Everyone with perfectly drilled pupils

Some familiars	                 and some half-gods     whose 
errant descendants perform a series of labors
in atonement

                                                 First	   the serpent
                                                                   then	  the lion and the deer 
                                                                   then	  a legit monster
                                                                   in Palmyrene marble

Then	 forgiveness 
and	         fertility
and	         perfumery
and	         the lapis lazuli

Then Romans took the statues and the gods 
Then Christians took the statues and the gods 
And then Rejoice! in the symmetry
of godliness	          giving birth to foliate capitals 
everywhere

                                                                                     The inheritors pass down

their limestone debts	                   trade hematite for 
styrene	                  contact lenses
nonoxynol-9	      smooth caramel fillings 
a new embrace			  of old gender-fluid 
footwear	          Togas are back, baby!
everyone screams out of the rubble

Then   the confusing autocorrect 
the dissatisfied statesmen
the plate glass tectonics 
the sulfur superplumes
the vape     the floods	the dance of ages 
the assurances	 the aping	  the echo 
the Please
                                 the No
                                                                     the Not that
then	and then again
the sharp promises	          upending
the kingdom	                 the animals
entering	                  the melt	                     the upsides
down		      the bailing out		             the begging in 
then	             and then	                 and only then

The Antarcticans		  the families in paper vessels 
the longed for	         and the longing
everyone out       and out	     and outermost	everyman their own 
fisherman		   but the fish	      the fishing	      the men	          the nets 
everyone	     then	           everyone			   at sea

Written in response to several works from the Saint Louis Art Museum’s ancient collection

Read more from Issue 20.1.