Linda Pastan
Linda Pastan (1932-present) is an American Jewish poet raised in New York City. She has lived most of her life in Potomac, Maryland and was the Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1991-1995. Educated at Radcliffe College, Pastan has written 15 books of poetry, often involving themes of motherhood, family life, the female experience, aging, loss and fear of loss, and death. Source
On the Steps of the Jefferson Memorial
We invent our gods
the way the Greeks did,
in our own image– but magnified.
Athena, the very mother of wisdom,
squabbled with Poseidon
like any human sibling
until their furious tempers
made the sea writhe.
Zeus wore a crown
of lightning bolts one minute,
a cloak of feathers the next,
as driven by earthly lust
he prepared to swoop
down on Leda.
Despite their power,
frailty ran through them
like the darker veins
in the marble of these temples
we call monuments.
Looking at Jefferson now,
I think of the language
he left for us to live by.
I think of the slave
in the kitchen downstairs.
Published:
2005
Length:
Shorty
Literary Movements:
Contemporary
Anthology Years:
2020
Themes:
Politics
Strength & Resilience
Literary Devices:
Allusion
an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference
Caesura
a break between words within a metrical foot
Enjambment
a line break interrupting the middle of a phrase which continues on to the next line
Juxtaposition
the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect
Simile
a comparison between two unlike things using the words “like” or “as”