from Hector Astyanax MN Jatta, red Apulian red-
figure column-crater,
ca. 370–360 BC. From Ruvo. Stored in the Museo
Nazionale
of the Palazzo Jatta in Ruvo di Puglia (Bari).
Dear Dad,
I found our family portrait
on display for day-tripping tourists
who know so little
- as I did then - of who you were
beyond what Homer, Hollywood,
and history have extolled.
We're immortalized in red tones,
the color of your blood
spilled on the threshold of Troy.
Mother's thighs are tight with tension,
her eyelids at half-mast,
your right foot is raised
in heroic stance,
your helm held out to me,
its silken plume a white flag
in my pudgy hand.
It's a pretty scene,
but truth be told;
I needed to hold your hand,
to know you as my father,
and not as legend.
Your son,
Astyanax