Hippolyta
though she had
dropped her axe
the Amazon
was a fair match
for the trim carapace
of an Attic stripling
who attacks her
with a chopped-off limb
after snatching her hair
in the chase
and tripping her up
but what she faced
was not only that cadet leader
with his drapery cape
but that static trance of his
which foregoes any chance
either had
of breeding races
of chaster heroes
out of rapine
Dunedin 1995