A poem from my paperback book, "Bus Lights, Travel Sights."

Available at Amazon.

The Parthenon Comes To The South

A monolithic vestibule

begins the look inside.

Deeper in, within four walls

stands the attested pageant

of Greek myth.

From across the ocean

and into this landlocked stratosphere,

stands the idea of a powerful home,

an astonishing image.

The attempted story of Athena:

She whose hidden rage

came to bear upon Medusa,

whose adverse glances were the undoing of many.

Athena,

upon whose hand stands 

the never pinioned shrillness of Nike.

Athena,

underneath her feet,

the debilitation of the serpent,

and upon her shield,

a portrait of the languid monster.

Modern seeking peasants strive

to mangle the friendly myth.

Athena,

Supernatural.

All her queenly falsehood apparent,

like a mythological cavern,

stands her fateful replica.

Athena, Golden Goddess,

In America reintroduced,

Deconstructed in Greece,

There her audience has decreased.