copyright Kenton Rhoades

The Sirens of Atlantis

“Symmetric gilded statues”

—Severo Sarduy

The wet terraces dominated—

By ancient temples, the underwater

Plains between two vast seas

Overlapping the blue pyramids—

Symmetric glided statues standing

Like marble fragments in the snow

Apollo torsos with broad hands—

Devoured by moss-stained memories

Of what was or could have been

Drawing short mazes down deep—

Subterranean bodies dragged through

The river that buried them in the sand

A bed sharp stones, the frozen eyes—

The delta on one hand, and beyond a

Forehead, an arm, a chest