Diocletian Upon Being Asked to Return to Rome by Kate Deimling
as plentiful as grapes on the vine, as big around as one of your thighs
Diocletian Upon Being Asked to Return to Rome
You should see these cabbages of mine fan their generous green leaves…and their size— massive, stretching in an endless line. I’m aware an emperor is divine, and it’s kind of you to call me wise— you should see these cabbages of mine. Oh, yes, how the city did shine, her marble monuments reaching to the skies, massive, stretching in an endless line, but here, since I have resigned, I have secured a valuable prize: you should see these cabbages of mine, as plentiful as grapes on the vine, as big around as one of your thighs— massive, stretching in an endless line. I’m afraid I must respectfully decline to return as emperor, but please, come, rise, you should see these cabbages of mine, massive, stretching in an endless line.
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As time goes on, it becomes harder to find a villanelle that is original and inspiring to read. This poem is these things. With a subject few would think to write about, with a sensibility few can present in a convincing way, this poem has touched me in several ways. I don’t find as many new poems to read these days that make me say, “I should look wider for things to write about and look deeper into traditional forms.” A story from long ago about values desperately needed today. This is why, after many years, I still believe in the immediate power of poetry.
There's a bordeline silliness to this poem that results (mysteriousl;y) in the poem's' becoming, in the end, more charming than it has any right to be. How this happens is difficult to explain satisfactorily, but one feels it (at least I did). I've nver before seen charm (and a clunky deftness) wield so much anodyne power! Remarkable. Gary Michael Dault