poem || Jeff Harrison

Appius Claudius Prevented From Ascension By 160 Virginias

no shepherd awaits outstretched
with the earth below and above the...
and above, the marble air... and yes, thy violets...

cease your ascent,
Appius Claudius,
cries Chimaeras Verser,
& your demise
will not go undeplored
cease, Appius
Claudius
Crassus,

and stand (as so stood wolf's tender you: lamb, rose)
and await the, if not eternal end, then a plentiful end of VIRGINIA

Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve:

even the title is prescriptive
("Appius Claudius Prevented From Ascension By 160 Virginias")
and raises the question "how many years for each Virginia, and
do the Virginias have writing between them, and ---

is Appius Claudius ascending, now?"

NOR ASCENDING STILL, BUT TRAPPED
by the arrival of twenty more Virginias

and the twenty Virginias beneath his feet die away: this, Appius,
is the, if not eternal end, then a plentiful end of VIRGINIA