Metamorphosis
by Emily Bilman
Like the poet seeking immortality
through an unfinished manuscript,
Orpheus would not abandon Eurydice
to darkness yet, unbent, she was oozed
into a singularity. Back in Thrace, Orpheus
delved into the mirrors of his buried self.
His poems poured through the sea-channels
like stream-currents. As Apollo’s light seeped
through the olive groves above the cerulean sea
the hills of Elysium echoed with his life-force.
The Dunes
by Emily Bilman
When the car stopped, the jade sea-air
spurred me on towards the huge dunes
on the beryl-beach spreading out
like boulders tumbling down from the hills.
As if hypnotised, I gazed intensely
at the sands wrapped by the sea-breeze
moving upon the northern sea
through the thick window-panes
keeping the ill winds out of the barrier-resort.
On one dune, there slithered a juvenile
sand-serpent ready to ambush
its predators by burying its body
inside the soft sands stealthily.
The Mask in Sutton Hoo
by Emily Bilman
With molten silver, I shaped a head-
shield that fit an identical iron face,
a regal mask meant for eternity.
For this sculpture, I consulted an iron-
smith who welded the silver mask
to an iron headshield. Like the carved oars
of the ancient war-faring ships, I sculpted
the face with square-striae and symbols.
The king’s wars were engraved in relief
on mobile panels. The totem of a golden
sea-phoenix was welded to the headshield
protecting the face. The thick eyebrows
resembled birdwings shielded by two
wolves. Guarded by armed giants,
the amphibian-totem carried away
the sword-bearer to oceanic eternity.
The Sea-League
by Emily Bilman
Pilgrims tread softly on sleek
pine-needles until the brick house,
anointed with frankincense,
suspires with candle-wax.
The diva, in the hearth-shaped
amphitheatre under the crescent moon,
with the perfect pitch for expensive
ballads, sang about her prime provocateur.
The chorus on stage sang their lunar
journey of loess, rust, and brine.
The commercial nexus, founded
by a sacrificial Amazon had
moved west with the silted river.
Austere, the pines, scenting resin-balm
celebrated the fledgling sea-league.
Coins were carved on electrum
to revere the effigy of the deity,
her marble breast-emblems,
warrants of the city’s perennity.
Shore to shore, nobles, and traders
chanted an Aegean eulogy.
BIO
Emily Bilman, PhD is a poet-scholar who lives and writes Geneva,
Switzerland. Her dissertation, The Psychodynamics of Poetry: Poetic Virtuality
and Oedipal Sublimation in the Poetry of T.S. Eliot and Paul Valéry, with her
poetry translations, was published by Lambert Academic in 2010 and Modern
Ekphrasis in 2013 by Peter Lang, CH. Her poetry books, A Woman By A Well
(2015), Resilience (2015), The Threshold of Broken Waters (2018), and
Apperception (2020) were published by Troubador, UK. “The Tear-Catcher”
won the first prize in depth poetry by The New York Literary Magazine. Poems
were published in Deronda Review, The London Magazine, San Antonio
Review, The Wisconsin Review, Expanded Field, Poetics Research, The Blue
Nib, Tipton Poetry Journal, North of Oxford Journal, Otherwise Engaged
Magazine, Literary Heist, The High Window, Wild Court, Remington Review,
Book of Matches, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Poets Live Anthology 4, OxMag,
San Diego Poetry Anthology, Contemporary Poetry 2022, Ballast Journal,
Soren Lit, Southern Arizona Press Anthologies, Poetry Salzburg Review.
Emily Bilman, PhD blogs on her website- http://www.emiliebilman.wix.com/emily-bilman
SOREN LIT interview with Emily Bilman, PhD: