Treasures from the Wreck
of the Unrecoverable
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse
“Athenaeus quotes more than ten thousand lines
of verse in it, many not preserved or attested
elsewhere.”
~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets
Ten thousand lines of poetry, and more,
Preserved for us by just one drunken man—
That’s quite a feat. There’s poetry galore
In vast oblivion, though, quite a span
Of ancient verse that’s lost. The Isle of Cos,
The tiny Isle of Cos alone, produced
Two famous poets and the tragic loss
Of almost all such work leaves life reduced.
This doesn’t take account of Hesiod,
Or Pindar, or the poet of Cyrene,
Callimachus. No matter how we prod
The depths of lack, there’s nothing more to glean.
..Nearly all that Sappho loved and wrote
….Is gone in careless time’s deep-fathomed boat.
“It containeth strange and singular relations, not without some spice” ~ Sir Thomas Browne
An ancient cookbook full of spice and sauce,
This book by Athenaeus offers more
Of poetry than any other. It’s a gloss
On classic Roman greekness. We abhor
The loss of all the verse he could not fit
Inside his volumes. Certainly he tried
Much harder than all others. He might flit
About too much but his wide-ranging stride
Is structured like a conversation, so
That is normal. When not discussing food
And finer points of verse, the men’s chat’s flow
Takes in all sorts of things, even the rude.
..Where else can men experience the joys
….Of eating, epics, lyrics and nude boys?