Wintry Mix

Hercules wrestles with the giant Antaeus, the son of Earth, Gaia. Late Archaic Attic red figure krater signed Euphronios, ca. 515–505 B.C.E. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Let each new hero come

Seeking the golden apples and Atlas.

—Seamus Heaney, "Antaeus" (1966)

I shall not like famous Seamus

Revive Antaeus, the giant

Who drew strength from Mother Gaia.

His elevation was his Fall.

Earth still retains Her power, true—

But not for him, O foolish you,

Who've thrown a pretty world away

And on a wintry evening stew.

Our plans and policies betray

The Atlas of our ignorance—

And willed stupidity enhance.

Believing what we think, we prance

Along this seeming golden way.

You will, won't you, save me the dance?

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

The Slip Leash

The sunken "ha-ha" security wall at the Washington Monument in Washington, DC.

Small days go by in their unwanted vests,

Each towing a person on a long slip leash,

Sufficing for a quick tour d'horizon.

I watch them through the window from my bed,

Beyond the frozen ha-ha of the world outside.

Soon enough, though, the novelty's gone.

I'll rise in a bit—it's time for wolves to leap,

And perhaps for lazy watchers to be led,

Instead of sprawling there in bed asleep.

I plug the fast charger into my phone—

Not that I've the slightest plan to roam!

Sufficient unto itself, the view's enough,

And any news is mostly, after all, just bluff.

(That should be “small dogs,” naturally!

Good thing you spotted it! But does it matter?

The difference fits the stuff, you see.)

Saturday, January 31, 2026

A Baby Remembers

The Caledon Baths Hotel, where the author was born in November 1939

Emerging in Caledon Baths Hotel—the verge

Of reality, the month, November nineteen

Thirty-nine, for seventy-two days, I learned,

My newfound country’d been at war with Germany.*

“Not very pretty at first,” lying in my crib,

I harkened to the grown-ups talking of the news

Reports breathlessly broadcast daily by the SABC,

About the rage of spite and Poland’s agony.

In the fire that the Panzers and the Stukas spat,

What would become of me? Familiar thus, I made

Acquaintance with the demons who pursue me yet,

Since that first midnight they set shop up here to stay.

“How,” you’ll scoff for sure, “could you understand their talk?”

I guess I must explain and spell it out—

Damned if I’ll defer to stale professional doubt!

Although they mostly lose it after just a month

Or two, new babies can, see, “do” telepathy.

You learn it swimming in the amniotic sea.

As you might well suppose, this has a huge impact

On consciousness—and that “hard problem” mystery.

Gotcha, scientists! You thought you knew it all!

But I can conjure many figments that concur.

Those recollections now, though, growing dim,

I fear I’m near to ready for the compost bin!

* Britain, France, India, Australia, and New Zealand declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. South Africa followed suit on September 6, beating Canada to it by four days. SABC = South African Broadcasting Corporation, on the air since 1936.

In the arms of my first true love, Leni. Amor vincit omnia!

Tuesday, January 27, 2026