 |
| Attic Greece Column Krater ca. 430 BC Horsemen Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Stamnos ca. 450 BC Maenads making music Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Alabastron ca. 440-430 BC Woman in domestic setting Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Volute Krater with Stand ca. 430 BC Dionysos and followers Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Volute Krater with Stand (detail) ca. 430 BC Dionysos and followers Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Column Krater ca. 475-465 BC Satyr pursuing Maenad Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
The Satyr Proffered
These grapes of stone were being proffered, friend.
– John Berryman
grapes, rough-touched and round, stone-
carved, to be squeezed into the fundaments
of rock wine. She imagines it would be cold,
not sought for its smoothness,
and likely full of grit
if not refined with care.
The satyr laughs carelessly
for one caught in stone.
The cracked edges of his mouth spill grit
as he leers after the loss of his fundaments
which fall along the smooth,
cold
torso plane, exhibiting immaculate coolness
at this literal loss of face. Carefully,
she strokes his head, as if smoothing
the fetlocks handcrafted from stone.
Her affection is unforced, a fundamental
attraction to those beautiful, gritty
things made lovely by decay, their gritted
teeth so much more interesting than the art gallery's cold
geometrics, which appear fundamental
but fail to consider the careless
chaos spinning at the stone
center of all smooth
creations. And those grapes! Their unsmooth
surface mirrors the messy passion flushing the grit-
dusted cheek, the hideous mouth of crumbling stone.
What heat from the Dionysian's cold,
brittle fruit! The obliteration of all care
if she could only perform the fundamental
act of eating. She thinks about wilderness, fun, mental
liberation, dancing her soles smooth,
pleasure as pervasive as care
is now, her feet a frenzied blur on the gritty
forest floor, shaking and pummeling out the cold
as she prances over starlit stones.
She does not care who sees her, as she grips the stone
grapes, feels the smooth, crumbling cold
enter her hand, fingers embracing a thing more fundamental than earth, bone, grit.
– Charlie Bondhus (published in Poetry, March, 2015)
 |
| Attic Greece Skyphos ca. 450 BC Two Youths Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Bell Krater ca. 430-410 BC Satyr and Maenad at a Herm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Amphora ca. 530 BC Herakles and Apollo vying for possession of the Delphic Tripod Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Oinochoe ca. 430 BC Athlete with strigil at a post Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Kylix (interior) ca. 480 BC Flute-playing Satyr and Maenad Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Neck Amphora ca. 460 BC Nike holding a filet Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Hydria ca. 420-400 BC Two Women presenting gifts to Two Youths Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
 |
| Attic Greece Neck Amphora ca. 480-470 BC Satyr playing lyre Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |