The Task of the Gods

the people who fought over troy 
the troy buried under five later troys
and then dug up by a nineteenth century romantic
are safe enough to be dead now

even millennia ago they were safe enough
that when a poet codified their exploits
blind     to their terror and pain
that he had them all speaking the same language
his dialect    which none of them
had ever heard     and had them
all worshipping the same gods that he did

the same gods    that we toy with now
raise your hands    statues
if you still believe in zeus or aphrodite
raise your hands    or we’ll bury you again
under the roadways and apartment houses
that we’ve built over your ruins

zeus is a toy is a stand-in
for the power of the curses people thought he could make
i said zeus is a stand-in    the weather’s bad today
the guy who thinks he owns the country
is angry and insane    i feel a sinking quickening
of my pulse as i say this    but some young man
is looking for a woman who will make his heart
come alive for him    i have been that young man
he is not buried    aphrodite help him
please

from Trump Tics (2020)