The Myth of Olympians

Suppose they gave a war

by other means

and no-one came?

Perhaps we’ll know soon.

And in the news today

we have the empty theatre

of Les Jeux Olympiques in Tokyo.

An opening cavalcade

broadcast to billions:

we are being fed our bread

and shown our circuses.

Four – no, five - long years of preparation,

dedication, near starvation for some,

for the glory of the games

that never were.

Forever asterisked in the Holy Book

of Guinness as the tourney of Tokyo,

where the national anthems

echoed in the emptiness,

how will it feel

to put your own medal

around your neck?

Perhaps the flowers

will be wreaths?

Will someone fail a test?

Betrayed by their own

bodily fluids, will their

infamy disappear from view

under the weight

of the only narrative

that seems to matter now?

Higher,

faster,

stronger,

together?

Alone.