[syndicate] The Seven Wonders of Max Beerbohm

[jeff harrison]

THE PERVASION OF ROUGE 

the Great Pyramid of Giza precedes 
the maples, the oaks, some hold. 
located at the necropolis of Memphis. 
at the point of the Pyramid is the regard 
of 42 centuries. heaviest shroud on earth. 

* 

GROUPS OF MYRMIDONS 

overlook the full surroundings 
& sink into Scheherazade's satchel 
bubble up carefully & come forward 
bare-handed as the brow of Amyitis 

now each off-hand phrase 
has at least some warmth 
intermediate enough, 
Nebuchadnezzar enough 

yes! yes! send me any flounce 
from any scene! the trifles open naturally, 
now even the sharpest use 
Observatory telescopes to see 'em, 

though they still come to us stooped 
& obsequious, bubbled up to come forward 
THIRST - my first vicinity was a tolerably warm 
boot upon a road lately removed, a cynical hold upon 

the lurking tearfuls... N E B U C H A D N E Z Z A R 
finding prey with his forefinger, just another snake shifting & 
craning to come forward out from the full surroundings, this 
perseverance is a centaur hueless beside remains of fair weather 

anchor to swim blood-dyed in intonation, blood to vindicate a 
dog short of hands, some day I'll lay a pair of gloves on her brow 
until then, the whole story is vigorous as ever... the story is 
the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (never existed outside fiction) 

* 

ZULEIKA DOBSON 

his right hand alofts Victory ivory & gold 
his left hand alofts, by sceptre, an eagle: 
the statue of Zeus at Olympia, who Caligula 
wished to carry to Rome. empty, this dawn, 
the hands of Zeus, the hands of Caligula. 

* 

WHISTLER'S WRITING 

"when I saw the sacred house of Artemis 
that towers to the clouds, the other Wonders 
were placed in its shade; the Sun has never 
looked upon its equal outside Olympus." 

- Antipater de Sidon 

St. John Chrysostom tore down 
the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. 
the day still has her robins. Ephesus 
too had its robins before & behind 
Herostratus. Chrysostom's demise 
likewise robbed no nests. 

* 

NO. 2 THE PINES 

the monument at Halicarnassus was built 
for King Mausolus by order of Artemisia, 
his queen, who drank his ashes to become 
Artemisia A Breathing Mausoleum. funerary 
notions are red in the ear as green's in grass. 

* 

A CLOUD OF PINAFORES 

the Colossus of Rhodes was 56 years whole. 
an earthquake left it strewn a millennium, then 
900 camels transported this Helios statue to Syria. 

incompletion, that faithful zero, 
sometimes waits long past your finishing touch. 

* 

ENOCH SOAMES 

an earthquake also ruined the Alexandria lighthouse. 
until then, it was a gathering-hall for spectres, 45 in 
number, who, bold & bright as they were in their 
ghostly prime, wouldn't, in the opinion of many, 
make a sound if they all flew off at once, which 
they did (depart), which they didn't (divulge) 

 		
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