Imagining Sisyphus
Matt Phillips

This go-around, he imagines that it
is a carcass: a large goat he’s killed,
so large that it must be dragged —
no, pushed, to the top of that hill
where sit the gates of great Ephyra.

It is to be a feast for his tall family:
his sons! Glaucus, the great racer
of chariots, & all the others.
________________________________But on
second thought, he didn’t really want
to feed them anyway. The carcass falls,
stirring up clouds of dust as it tumbles
to the valley below.

And again to his task. Now he imagines
a small skiff-boat lurking near the coast,
only he is the motor: he alone can drive
the skiff. He trills his lips imagining
water & feels happy.
________________________Yet how very
strange — he cannot seem to recall
the name of the woman who always
was with him, all his scheming days.
He despairs & is lonely.

Then the old hoarder-god of souls
comes strolling along whistling
his favorite melody from Orpheus,
& passing shouts “Lovely day here
down in the valley!”
______________________& the sun, or
whatever passes for it these days,
goes right on dazzling on.