Nuances in Curves
“The Diadoumenos” in Daniel Schwartz, Metamorphoses/Greek Photographs, Thames and Hudson, London and New York, 1986
The light falls, slant. It falls in shadowed, dim,
And subtle patches. It is like the gods
Who sometimes hide behind a deep-veiled hymn
And sometimes show like shades on bright facades,
Or sometimes like the Greek isles’ sun unveiled
At midday. Shadows on this young one pick
Out curls. The rest of him is pocked stone paled
Except the brilliant nostril and the slick,
Wide cheek and jaw. The brightest parts of all,
The jaw, and cheek, and nose are shadowed in
A sense. It is as if they are a drawl.
Their rhetoric is like a polished sin.
..The only element that matters swirls
….Above the lovely head, those crucial curls.
Dismemberment
They swirl below as well. The cropping cut
Most out, though. Has photographer or time
Cut off other parts? We wonder what
Has happened. Has some vandalistic crime
Chopped arms from swollen shoulders, and torn hairs,
Those closest to the genitals, away,
Or did the dark room make the blackened tears?
The calves are gone. The buttocks have no sway.
The ancient penchant to reduce the size
Of penis and of testicles has been
Ramped up to cut them off completely. Thighs
Are gone. The chopping has been far too keen.
..The little hint of pubic hair is like
….A spell gone sour that ripped away his spike.