The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

Venus and Mars, by Mark Wilson

8/24/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Venus and Mars, by Sandro Botticelli (Italian) c. 1485

Venus

He sleeps like any firefighter
or ex-serviceman, using sex as his
opiate to quench PTSD. Yes, he’ll
be floored for hours, oblivious to
all but his own amorphous dreams
from Lethe. After his fill of pleasure,
he can fall into oblivion like any
pre-adolescent. A god of iron reduced
to a flaccid sack of organs, almost
naked & caught in the light-trap of my
female gaze zoned in on him. He who
was mandated a license to kill, now
dead to the elements, his fervid
senses deregulated, & all but
demobilised by our act of coitus.

And me: Queen of Love who transcends
amorous dalliance. She who sublimates
erotica each time, who apotheosizes
beyond these bed-posts of myrtle
into a garden-paradise of her own
sensibility. She who is sensitized
to a higher love, who levitates
her paramours, gifts them pleasure
beyond their respective orgasms.

Do not de-mystify my illuminatio coitu.
Reduce not my rite to mere biology.
Abandon yourself with a sensitive body &
mind. Be attentive, even as you succumb.

**

Mars

Not many have seen Armageddon,
not many have lived through the
infernal freeze-frames: the fire,
blood & anguish of my wars.

To be the last warrior standing
because snipers have picked off
all the members of your platoon
one by piteous one, is to be worthy
of some kind of remuneration.

Troy was my training-ground,
body-strewn Thermopylae my
place of higher learning. Have
since done my work in Palestine
& the fields of Kosovo. At Shiloh,
Agincourt & Passchendaele, I dug
in my oiled jackboot & issued
forth my bellowing commands.

Have earned my erotic goddess, & this
prolonged stupor beneath the myrtle
boughs. Too hot for Vulcan to handle,
for only a soldier can truly satisfy Venus.
And so she availed her well-endowed
body to me &, of course, I complied.

Discipline in the wars permits me
a certain license during peacetime.
Wake me up in time for the next war.
Otherwise, satiated, let me snore.

**

The Satyrs

Impish, crammed full of chutzpah, so
we gatecrash the post-coital scene.
Grab his lance, helmet, breastplate
& sword for our gamesmanship &
innuendo, eternally arsing around.

We fart our raspberries through a conch
one of us uncovered in a frolic on
the beach, but sluggish, arrogant Mars
is dead to our irreverence. He’s
shagged out & deserving only
of a demobilization warrant.

Venus, meanwhile, looks detached
& indifferent. Later we’ll fantasize
the contours of her breasts & thighs,
doodle pornographic graffito. Get high.

**

The Wasps

In the vested name
of the Vespucci family,
we make our appearance
haloing the god of war.

For Sandro’s painting
invokes his patrons &
Simonetta far more
than Ovid or Homer.

La vespa’s more than
an heraldic motif
or vintage scooter
buzzing around Florence.

Without our golden
chevrons, the paint
Sandro uses would run
dry. Venus’ aurora

would vanish for good,
the god of war exhaust
into pusillanimity. Art’s
indebted to patronage.

We have our strong hive,
this city-state to build.
Sandro paints Simonetta
& we’re all enriched,

ennobled as citizenry.
We will awake Mars
when it’s time for war.
Otherwise, let’s relax

in this earthly paradise
Sandro’s Venus provides.
Love supplants the sword,
the State lifts up the individual.

We vibrate, loudly converse
close to his ear-canal, but
there’s no chance he’ll wake.
Our dynasty will perpetuate.

Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson has previously published four poetry collections: Quartet For the End of Time (Editions du Zaporogue, 2011), Passio(Editions du Zaporogue, 2013), The Angel of History (Leaky Boot Press, 2013) and Illuminations (Leaky Boot Press, 2016). He is also the author of a verse-drama, One Eucalyptus Seed, about the arrest and incarceration of Ezra Pound after World War Two. His poemsand articles have appeared in: The Black Herald, The Shop, 3:AM Magazine, International Times, The Fiend, Epignosis Quarterly, Dodging the Rain, The Ekphrastic Review and Le Zaporogue.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    COOKIES/PRIVACY
    This site uses cookies to deliver your best navigation experience this time and next. Continuing here means you consent to cookies. Thank you.
    Join us on Facebook:
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • Workshops
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead