I SAW "300"

the movie last night. For some reason, it reminded me that, contrary to some recent reading of contemporary poems (which don't show up on my intermittent "Relished Whines" lists, btw), Poetry need not be so small....

Relatedly, the Battle of Thermopylae reminds me of Barry Schwabsky's fabulous poem entitled "A Weapon of Defense." I don't have that poem handy, but I did quote much of it as the ending to my poem "Desperate Trust" (in ENGLISH) which ends with

Early in the 7th century B.C.
red roses forged a defensive weapon

By "hampering their movements
through the mountain pass"