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    The New Verse News presents politically progressive poetry on current events and topical issues.

    Saturday, February 18, 2017

    THE WARRIOR'S GRAVE

    by Alejandro Escudé


    This 3,500-Year-Old Greek Tomb Upended What We Thought We Knew About the Roots of Western Civilization: The recent discovery of the grave of an ancient soldier is challenging accepted wisdom among archaeologists. In late June 2015, the scheduled end to their season came and went, and a skeleton began to emerge—a man in his early 30s, his skull flattened and broken and a silver bowl on his chest. The researchers nicknamed him the “griffin warrior” after a griffin-decorated ivory plaque they found between his legs. Stocker got used to working alongside him in that cramped space, day after day in the blazing summer sun. “I felt really close to this guy, whoever he was,” she says. “This was a person and these were his things. I talked to him: ‘Mr. Griffin, help me to be careful.’” —Smithsonian, January 2017

    The mouth grows
    isolation

    under the olive groves
    a warrior waits

    gold-laden, bronze statuettes,
    oh rings double-scored

    and you mount the Mount
    to be with her;

    she who knew you best
    and whom you challenged,

    as far as mainland Greece,
    across the lunar bay

    and into the ancient palace
    of words

    death finally made you a poet
    as it does to us all.


    Alejandro Escudé published his first full-length collection of poems My Earthbound Eye in September 2013. He holds a master’s degree in creative writing from UC Davis and teaches high school English. Originally from Argentina, Alejandro lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

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