Book Six

Star

Football

Quarterback 

Continued stretch 

Of wins to coach's 

Glowing praise, players' cheers,

Back benched crew's watchful silence.



Zeus

Declared

Hektor's fate

For Zeus's end:

Acclaimed as fighter

Would breach Greek ships; fight, kill

Patroklos; fight Achilles.



Third

Form boys,

Each assigned

To different 

Sixth former, duties 

Imposed from taskmaster's 

Whim in cologne scented rooms.




Start

Defense

Stance lowered,

Two-point, three-point,

Or four-point, blockers

Bull rushed, quarterback blind-

Sided, practice play sheets piled.



Fates

Known to

Achilles: 

Short life, honour

Everlasting; long

Life, deeds forgotten; Zeus

Kept Patroklos' fate misted.



Once

Discharged,

Boys' exit 

Blocked, loud debate-

Contentious issue-

Had emanated from 

Smoking lounge off entry way.



School's

Reserve

Quarterback,

And second-string 

Quarterback, practiced

Alongside team starters,

Lifted while others showered.



Paired

To spy

On Trojans,

Odysseus,

And Diomedes,

Left the ships under the 

Watchful eyes of Athene.



Search

Party

Prefects sent 

To sixth form dorm 

After curfew had 

Been missed, trapped boys freed, thanks

To head boy's intervention.



Soap

Bar dropped,

Quarterback,

Bent to retrieve

It, grabbed from behind

By workout partner in

Slippery wrestling takedown.



A

Trojan

Spy quickly

Subdued, subject 

Interrogated,

Rewards forsaken, his

Ransom declined, beheaded.



He

Ran off

Copies of

Previously 

Used Greek midterm, the

Translation passages

Had been highlighted in class. 



A 

Few left

Bench- soccer 

Prospects beckoned-

Drilled dexterity,

Mindset, plugged midfield holes,

Controlled passes equalled goals.



Zeus

Sent Hate,

Achaians 

Slaughtered Trojans

Until, one by one,

Bloodied, withdrew, giving

Hektor his promised glory.



Fifth

Form store

Sales clerk asked

Third form stocker 

Why he looked so grim,

Anxious about midterm

In ancient Greek translation.



Cool

Weather

Forced tank tops,

Crew socks, on cross

Country runners, whose

Thin, nylon shorts were soaked

Through by downpours along trails.



Sons,

Known by

Fathers, slain

Under spear thrusts

Of Agamemnon,

Hektor; armour, tunics,

Stripped: nameless white skin corpses.



Fifth

Former,

Who'd taken

Class, remembered

That test passages

Were the ones they had been

Told that: 'They would see again.'



{18 stanzas/page}




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