INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Michelle Bailat-Jones
Amit Parmessur
Steve Barfield
Fahredin Shehu
Karyn M. Bruce
Richard Gartee
Running Cub
Dejoy Robillard
Yuan Hongri
Lasz.o Slomovits
Silvia Scheibli
Stephen Sleboda
Alan Britt
Gale Acuff
Elisavietta Ritchie
Shutta Crum
Patty Dickson Pieczka

Duane Locke
Jennifer Burd
Aneek Chatterjee
Robert Nisbet
Robert Penick

Alex Ferde
Solomon Musa Haruna

Violeta Allmuca
Fred Wolven
 

Ann Arbor Review

is an independent

International Journal & ezine

Copyright (c) 2020 Francis Ferde
All rights revert back to each poet.
--editor / Southeastern Florida
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AAR history note:  in print 1967 - 1980.  Irregular publications 1980 - 2004.  As ezine 2004 - present. Most of 54 years all together....

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staff:
Francis Ferde
Silver Grey Fox
Running Cub
Fred Wolven
 

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Conversations with Athena

In Buddha’s Garden

Athena walked with her father, Zeus,
not listening
to Olympian sagas he touted,
but admiring how the copper patina on statues
matched her mandarin ducks’ feathers

she masked her expressions
carefully not wanting
to annoy him
so she could pursue
her own musings

the irony did not escape her -
he himself had carefully taught
her how to hide her feelings
in plain sight -
insisting on being aware
of the other-
the ego or the alter-ego
depending on the
moment’s agenda

she refrained from
indulging him with her weakness - the lovely scent of two
gardenias her lover had placed near her - or her father would
have found a way to
belittle her out of jealousy


The Sacred Pool

Athena swam in her sacred pool
hoping to envision once more
the lover
she had dreamt of decades ago
only to be distracted by
athletic feats
of the likes of Poseidon whom
her father adored
and wanted her to worship too

the scent of orange and jasmine blossoms had saved her then
and now
had given her the insight into one of her most

treasured tasks which was
to face her immortality
like a mortal would -
gently and kindly
but with one exception-
her heart
must remain whole.

Before Breakfast

Athena
liked to see
herself
through her lovers’
eyes

Often
admired for the
deep cleft
of her breasts

Emphasized
by a crimson
caftan
she wore
carelessly

Tossing
her silken
hair
over
their
chests

After Breakfast

Athena brought
left-over pastries,
mangos
to her glossy Phoenix
anxious
knowing the damage
he could cause

last summer
he torched
immense forests
and she

had promised her brother
to contain him
over-night
behind a waterfall
or
he would transform him
into a jungle fowl

secretly she loved
the ardent flames, ashes &
consumed promises
of an avant-guard
dawn

The Banquet

Remembering
tonight’s banquet
honoring the hemlock crowd -
gray-beards

with pedophile tendencies -
Athena selected
a dazzling gown stitched by the
Pleiades’ Seven Sisters
and given her by
Cronus and Rhea, her
grandparents

Being of the warrior caste
and a woman
she was excluded from
attending Hemlock Society meetings

Only because of her
mother Hera’s reputation,
gray-beards lined up for
oyster, langostino hors d’oeuvres
as well as glimpses
of her brother, Apollo,
bu+ed in Orion’s Belt