Ancient fork
gripped left-
handed, soul-batterer
to send landlubbers
back up their hills.
The right hand
bruises a naiad’s breast,
clutched like a cabbage.
Above boar’s eyes
a crown explodes
in coral,
enameled pride
set in stone.
Tabula rasa
planed of detail,
woodland stars
and shaggy bees
cap Poseidon’s pate.
Gold-girdled ball-
breaking goddess,
Artemis occupies
the next panel,
frozen gekkos
obscure her calves.
Washed clear of
red barbarian dye
a dryad bare beneath
a shooting wing
of willow tree.
She is the same as
she the sea-lord gropes,
twins at the
mercy of a stone
grotesque.