Inside a Greek Tragedy There's No Need
for an unlimited MetroCard
or green juice cleanse
just a chorus chanting your name
when you walk into a room
the mood is moonlit & interior
you prepare monologues
on ethics & speak them
into your fan’s whir
while in the corner
your archetypal parents
mumble about wasted youth
you don’t need a therapist
only belief in an impossible cause
like the gods you suffer
from pride not shame
you walk for hours
in casual loose-fitting
summer-wear & arrive
at a fork where you must choose
between justice & mercy
as rock cliffs slope
down to an agitated sea
where your prophecies precede you
you can weep openly
as boats on the horizon
circling a shore though you may
have to turn into a tree
or constellation
because some minor hero
can’t control his arrows
there is no selfhood here
but selfishness
remains & hunger
a robin’s chicks in the eaves
call out to be fed
also heartbreak
you can’t stop it
these flashes of light
in the orchard & amphitheater
or the olive grove
on a summer night
in this ancient life
Jen Levitt, “Inside a Greek Tragedy There's No Need” from So Long.
Copyright © 2023 by Jen Levitt.
Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC
on behalf Four Way Books, fourwaybooks.com.
