♦ Poetic Sketches M to R ♦

Poker at the Parthenon

[ASR] A playful game of gods and goddesses and why we say '¡Aye, diós! and not '¡Aye, diana!'

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Poker at the Parthenon

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Artemis always wanted to be the Queen B. She challenged poor old Zeus one day. But got him drunk beforehand. Told him he no longer had the balls to rule Olympus. She got game. And played her cards until he could no longer refuse her offer: the winner earns all of Athens, the loser leaves for Rome. Who dealt the cards we'll never know, but the rumble from the earth gave birth to waves. Three cities drowned that day. One card dealt and the clouds fled to Spain. The second one felled the trees of Lebanon, the third covered the pyramid of Ak-Thimon (still not found). The fourth card drew in Moon's bad breath and snow lay on Saharan plains; the Black Sea baked. Then, all were summoned to witness the final blow. To which god would they bow? The armored Queen B She? He, the Lightning Lord-of-all? The answer came in a thunder's roar. So ... Artemis went to Rome and changed her name. Today we'd call her Lady Di. And Zeus? ¡Aye, diós! We still invoke his name.

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