David and Jonathan, Achilles and Patroclus, Alexander and Hephaestion
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
Hephaestion, lover of Alexander the Great
We heroize male anger, all the way
From David’s chopped Goliath to the wrath
Of pettish Prince Achilles. Poets bray
These killing wonders as they hew a path
Of blood and foreskins, broken heads and necks,
Five little pebbles fetched up from a brook,
Or battle swords and spears, men’s thrusting sex
With war-time trophies: girls god forsook
And dished out to the victors for their rape
And spawn. King Alexander is the worst,
The zenith of the worship of the shape
We praise. Esthetic consciences are cursed.
..These heroes always have their lovers by
….Their sides. The moral? Even love is sly.
~ Phillip Whidden