Aphrodite abandoned (Monday mural abecedarius)

aphrodite

Adrift among albatrosses and aurorae
Bathed in birdsong and blue beauty
Cytherea of caresses and carnality lies conquered
Dream-drowned in dark despondency.

Eons ago, Epitymbydia enamoured eternals,
Feelings flew from her free as foam.
Great gods and goddesses gladly
Had hearts hexed by her hetaira harmonies.

Interested in intimate interaction, she incarnated,
Juices joyful at joint juxtaposition
Kalligloutos convulsed in kama-sutric kaleidoscope.
Learning of love, lust, longing… and loss.

Maltreated Morpho made miserable and melancholy
Naiad negated by narcissistic nagging.
Overwhelming odium occluded Ouranos’ omnipotence
Perturbed the peace of poor plundered Pandemos.

Questioning quarrels, she quested for quietude
Ruefully reflecting on relationships’ risks.
Sobbing and sighing she sought succour
Till through trials and tears and temptations
Urania understood human unhappiness. Now

Venus voices and validates valiant valentines.
Wise and womanly (yet weeping when once again
Excruciated by exasperating ex’s xenophobia).
Yearning for youth’s yesterdays, she yields to
Zeus’ zestful zephyr’s zenith.

This poem was inspired by two prompts at poefusion. Firstly the monday mural – to write a poem based on the picture above (by lxzp at Photobucket). Secondly the challenge to write an abecedarius – a poem based around the alphabet.

Like many greek gods and goddesses, Aphrodite seems to have a lot of different or additional names, and it seemed rather fun to weave in as many of these names as I could in the appropriate lines – the ones I managed to include were Cytherea, Epitymbydia, Hetaira, Kalligloutos, Morpho, Ouranos, Panemos, Urania and Venus. (Kalligloutos, by the way, means beautiful thighs.) Naiad isn’t one of her names, but didn’t seem too inappropriate for a goddess so much associated with water.

7 responses to “Aphrodite abandoned (Monday mural abecedarius)

  1. I’m impressed. You’ve used two (alliteration and abc poem) different poetic forms here and included most all the other names Aphrodite went by. Impressive. Keep up the good work. And, thanks for your kind comments at Poefiti. They are always appreciated. Have a nice night.

  2. What an amazing way show Aphrodite in many lights.

    I so love the charm of myths and legends.

    Just gorgeous!

    Gemma

  3. dang… you guys are getting all poetic on me here tonight… that was amazing how you followed the abc through out the line as well… bravo!!!

  4. Another great ABC which I failed to recognized til the end because I was so enthralled by the narrative! What a great read, thank you so much for sharing it!

  5. Reminded me also of those Old English poems based on alliteration rather than rhyme. Very interesting and different, that. And otherwise great effort! Thanks!

  6. I’m with everyone else…WOW

    And thanks for the research and information. I think it helps to know your subject so well.

    Nicely done.

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