A Symposium
When singers were performing Homer in
The ancient past of Greece, they sang to all
And sundry. Rhapsodists were out to win
The ears of not just kings but even small
Men, women too, and maybe even boys
And girls. The point of young men in a room,
Though, was to strengthen proud high social poise
Above the rest. These guys were there to groom
Their self-identity as better than
The rest. The point was it was more a “we-
dentity,” not self-identity. Man
With man they showed that they were rich and free.
The hoi polloi were separate, underneath,
Not worthy of a crowning laurel wreath.
~ Phillip Whidden