Ode on a Grecian Stern

In the museum
I turn
and see
the stern
of
a muscled torso
set
in stone:

Drawing of Torso Statue by ~ggvic~

The gluteus of a Greek gladiator, I imagine — the slave of a Roman speculator who inspired the ancient sculptor? Like two firm plump melons ○○ placed symmetrically side-by-side in a supermarket, inviting hands to grab them, index fingers to thump them, and hear the sound: It's ripe. (Did that Roman speculator, in his day, test his slave for the coliseum fight that way?)

But my musings
return
to the museum,
and the marble
Grecian stern,
petrified.





for read write poem image prompt #4, Drawing of Torso Statue  (other poems)

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Encyclopedia Britannica "While traveling in Europe, Cuba, and China, [Pablo] Neruda embarked upon a period of incessant writing and feverish creation. One of his major works, Odas elementales (Elemental Odes), was published in 1954. Its verse was written in a new poetic style—simple, direct, precise, and humorous—and it contained descriptions of everyday objects." the poetic dictionary (John Drury) "Elemental ode (invented by Pablo Neruda, sometimes translated as 'elementary ode'): [a] short-lined free-verse poem about everyday things; passionate and rhapsodic about the ordinary, lavishing attention on and affection on subjects such as watermelons."