Dimitri Papadopoulos returns us to innocence, nostalgia, and inspiration with his touching poem “burgundy and oak”. Glimmering with imagery of Greek myths and the inspired play of childhood, this remarkable narrative urges a homecoming to those days of wonderment and openness. It leaves us with a hopeful return to the Muses, the whispers of whom can still be heard stirring in the earth.
Burgundy and Oak
as a boy
i heard the muses
Calliope and Melpomene
whispering
their voices bubbling up
from from the thick
burgundy carpet
in my grandfather’s
living room
we told Homeric tales
with plastic figurines
exploring caverns
beneath an oak end-table
the darkness
beneath the sofa
was an unknowable
otherworld
beside which we waged wars
with marbles
and matchbox cars
that small temple
of burgundy and oak
is lost to me now
yet in quiet moments
of forgetting myself
i still feel
my muses near
silently brushing my cheek
like scarves of raw silk
reminding me
to awaken back
into more innocent ways
of understanding
and so
under a cool
spring moon
i press my ear
to the earth
soft and yielding
after a generous April rain
and listen
to remember
Dimitri Papadopoulos
Dimitri Papadopoulos is an educator, musician, and writer. Most of all, he sees himself as a student of connection, never satisfied with a single way of knowing or being. He lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife, dog, and two cats, where he works as a professor of mathematics (the poetry of logical ideas), gigs as a guitarist/singer/drummer, writes poetry and nonfiction, and practices meditation with his sangha. https://www.dimitripapadopoulos.com/
This is just beautiful. I look forward to reading more of Dimitri’s poems.