He once used a ring
to prolong his erection,
and panicked, rock hard
and throbbing,
when it couldn’t be removed.
I thought of the columns
at Karnak, their sad
priapism, blunt thrusting
unable to detumesce
once frenzy had passed
and all the gods were gone.
Mercedes Webb-Pullman: Victoria University Wellington MA in Creative Writing, 2011. Her poems and short stories have appeared online and in print, including Turbine, 4th Floor, Melancholy Hyperbole, and her books. She lives on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand.
Categories: Poetry, Themed, Unseen
Tags: fantasy, landmarks, Mercedes Webb-Pullman, sex, spiritualism, The Columns at Karnak, the gods
Melancholy Hyperbole 
Though not a Viagra problem, he should probably call the doctor before four hours have passed–at least till the gods return. Great!
Very good. A provocative image. I thought of Shelley’s Ozymandias, where most of the old monument is in the sands and the parts left standing are not columns but half legs, also priapic, or at least arrogant. I wonder also, for us ordinary people–maybe especially men–how many of us do detumesce after the frenzy is gone. I suppose many do, but others certainly don’t go quiet into that good night. It’s part of the survival drive, I think.
I had to look up a few words to understand this: interesting revelation then.