Archive of New Mexico Poetry – E.A. Mares
In Apollo’s Temple
I thought the Oracle at Delphi
was silent. Down the mountain slope
I heard the goats, their soft calls
to each other, and their bells
murmuring like the voices
of the old poets on Mount Parnassus.
The goats descended the steep trail
to the Sacred Plain and the sea
beyond the Bay of Itea. I still hear
their voices, and the poets, too,
accompanied by the bells
as they sail out to the sea, to the world.
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you try so hard to write a poem
look at that mouse
darting across the small plot of lawn
on the university campus
healthy little guy
miguelito ratón on a romp
all big ears and furry coat
he doesn’t work or study
in an air-conditioned office
he is Immanuel Kant’s mouse
a form that scurries forever after itself
the mousiness of it all
corn smell and yellow teeth
eyes like rosary beads
whiskers feet and tail
the cat will regurgitate
Calabi Yau space mouse
amphibole mouse
shading into and out of existence
never knowing who or what he is
just like you and me
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About the Poet
Mares teaches creative writing at the University of New Mexico and has long been a poetry activist within the state. “Goats Near Delphi” is from a cycle of poems written in Greece which will be appearing in a chapbook early in 2000 from Santa Fe Poetry Broadside on the Web at http://www.rt.66.com/~sfpoetry/
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