Image: Unsplash, downloaded https://unsplash.com/photos/EYQbLx_daoI (23.5.2021.)
A CLASSIC SIN
Once, for a short time,
I owned death.
Kept him locked in a stone room
and I did not feed him.
And those days, when death was mine
not one person gasped a last breath
or left this green earth to fill a tomb.
Then I let him escape on a whim.
So now, over and again, I find
this stone pressed on my flesh.
Zeus laughs at his buffoon
but I smile and lean my shoulder in.
Once gods and mortals were all mine
because I, wily Sisyphus, owned death.
It’s not something you forget soon.
No, you relive it again and again.
About the Author: Mark J. Mitchell was born in Chicago and grew up in southern California. His latest poetry collection, Roshi San Francisco, was just published by Norfolk Publishing. Starting from Tu Fu was recently published by Encircle Publications.
He is very fond of baseball, Louis Aragon, Miles Davis, Kafka and Dante. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, the activist and documentarian, Joan Juster where he made his marginal living pointing out pretty things. Now, like everyone else, he’s unemployed.
He has published 2 novels and three chapbooks and two full length collections so far. Titles on request.
A meager online presence can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/MarkJMitchellwriter/
A primitive web site now exists: https://mark-j-mitchell.square.site/
Twitter: @Mark J Mitchell_Writer.
