Content Warning: violence, death

Basil Rouskas – Ending the War

we reach

the forest clearing

where Talthybios and Eurybates

are to officiate

sacrificial rites

to Athena

and we approach the altar where

I drew my commander’s sword

to mark the pit

Eurybates pours libations onto each dead

first mead and then sweet wine

mixed with unripened olive fruit

and we pray

dark blood thickening in the trench

faces stained with recent tears

girls tender women hard

Basil Rouskas has authored four books and one audiobook of poetry. His work has been featured in various venues including The New York Times, AUDIBLE, Princeton Public Library Podcast, Helix Magazine, Exit 13, Illuminations, Shot Glass Journal, Poetry Pacific, TIFERET: A Journal of Spiritual Literature and the Winter 2022 issue of California Quarterly (Published by California State Poetry Society.)

Photograph: Holey Rocks by Sylvia Santiago

Sylvia Santiago creates with words, images, and combinations of the two. Her work appears in Cutbow Quarterly, Ellipsis Zine, Harpy Hybrid Review, and elsewhere. Find her on Twitter: @sylviasays2