🌸 AGEAN FLOWERS 🌸

Have been working on a second book of poetry for a while now - here is one that is set around 1600 BC - may it warm your cynical bones..

GFR NEWS | TAKE 43

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AGEAN FLOWERS

by Magnus M

The Bull-leaping fresco from Knossos - 1450 BC

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ON PALACE WALLS
YOUNG NAKED MEN
LEAPING OVER OXEN
ON CLAY AND BRASS
WOMEN DANCING
WITH WILD ECSTASY
TO HONOUR THE GODDESS
HERO KINGS NOT GOD KINGS
PROUDLY EYE THIER
SOLDIERS TANNING
PLAYING BORED GAMES
ON MARBLE FLOORS
BULLS CAUGHT WITH NETS
IN THE FORREST

RITES AT THE GRAVES
ALL THESE ARTS MADE
WITH NO REPETITION
NO TRADITION
TINTS AND SHADES
SHINE IN SUNLIGHT
JUG WITH EDGES THAT SPARKLE
ETCHED BY ARTISANS
ONE-THOUSAND-TWO
HUNDRED YEARS
BEFORE PILOT
STAINED SCENTED WATER

AEGEAN FLOWERS
WHITE LEAVES OF FIVE
OUTSIDE, ALWAYS OUTSIDE
JOINED TO ISLAND SKY
SHIPS BACK SAFELY
FROM LANDS TO THE EAST
WITH TALES OF PHAROS
QUEENS AND KINGS OF MIGHTY EGYPT
HATSHEPSUT AND
THUTMOSE THE THIRD
AND STUFFED BELOW
IN BENDING WOODEN CARGO
IN BASKETS AND JARS
AND FINELY DETAILED BOXES

SIX HUNDRED FIGS
FROM ERIDU
TWO BABYLONIAN PLOUGHS
ENCRUSTED HITTITE AXE
AND WITH IT GREAT ART
A SNAKE - DRAGON
A PHOENICIAN MAP
TO COPPER AND TIN MINES
SEVERAL LARGE OCTUPI
TRAILING BEHIND
THE MINOAN CHILDREN
SHOUTING AND RUNNING
PURE EXITEMENT
THE TRADERS RETURN
THE SAILOR CREWMEN
THE NEPHEWS AND SONS
CARRY AEGEAN WILDFLOWERS
TO WELCOME THEM HOME!
THESE RESTLESS SEAMEN
BRINGING THE FUTURE

AND WHILE HIS MEN
PROP SAILES
AND UNLOAD
THE ADVENTURER REFLECTS
JUST FOR A WHILE
BETWEEN FLOODS AND WARS
ATTACKERS FROM THE SEA
TALES OF WOODEN HORSES
VOLCANO FIRES
THEY EAT FROM THE SEA
AND REST FOR A WHILE
JUST FOR A MOON MONTH
BETWEEN FAMINE AN BLIGHT
AND DISEASE
HIS HOME IS FREE!
AND ALL IS PROSPEROUS

SWEAT GLISTENS
HIS HAIRY SHOULDERS
DRIPS FROM HIS BEARD
BROW AND BACK
HE SMILES AT HIS WORLD
THREADS THE FLOWERS
THROUGH HIS KNIFE BELT
TURNS TO SPY HIS CITY
FIRST TIME IN TWO HARVESTS
THIS GREAT KNOSSUS
SEES A TOWN MEETING
GENERALS AND LANDSMEN
THE KINGS WIFE
SIT AND TALK
THE KING IS OLD AND ASLEEP
HIS WIFE STANDS IN
LEADING BETTER AT PEACE TIME
AND THE SECONDS LIKE HER

THEY LISTEN AND NOD
HUNCHED FORWARD
IN CIRCLE
THEY BARELY MIND
THE SYMPHONIC HORNS
IN BRIGHT MAJOR KEY
ANNOUNCING SAFE RETURN
THEN BACK TO MAPS
DAY TO DAY PLANNING
AN OPEN CITY OF CRETE
NO WALLS LIKE EASTERN LANDS HAVE
NO LIVING GODS LIKE THE NILE
A PRE DEMOCRACY
FORCED ON THEM BY NATURE
EMBRACED BY ARTISANS
THE ELDERLY AND ENGINEERS
ARCHITECTS AND FARMERS

AND ALL IN SHADE
THEY DISCUSS
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
“BABYLON HAS RISEN AGAIN, REBUILT MIGHTY CITIES!”
REMARKERS A GENERAL FROM PHAESTUS
BUT THE OLD HEAD TRADER
CORRECTS HIM KINDLY
“NOW THE WORD HAS IT THEY ARE ASSYRIAN SUBJECTS AGAIN”
THE KINGS WIFE ADDS
"THOUGH RETAINING THEIR LAWS AND CHEIF SPEAKER”
SHE KNOWS HER MEN WORRY
THESE WAR BRINGERS
EYEING THE WEST
FOR SLAVES AND WORSE
THE OLDEST LEADER READS HER WELL
AND ASSURES ALL
“THEY HAVE NO NAVY”
AND CALLS END TO IT

FOOD IS APPEARING
OLIVES AND ROCK SALT
IMPORTED CORN GRAIN
BROWN RED WINE GROWN ON MOUNTAINS
AND THEY TOO SMILE
SENSING THE LULL
FOR ABOVE THE AIR
THEY ARE CONNECTED
BY ONE AEGEAN SUMMAR
A NEW CIVILISATION
GROWN IN WET AND HEAT
HITHER ASIA AND EGYPT
AND THE AGEAN
AND SUMER
ARE WE SOME GOD ALIENS’ GREEN HOUSE?
FROM TIGRIS SEEDS
AND SOIL OF EUPHRATES
GROWING ALWAYS GROWING
GREAT BRANCHES OF TRIBES
AS IF APES PHOTOSYNTHESISED
A MILION YEAS AGO

Snake Goddess figurine, Knossos, 1650-1550 BC

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