THE CLASSICAL DEBT
by Susan Ayres
THE CLASSICAL DEBT
we will never repay the debt we owe Greece.
—Stephen Fry, Elgin Marbles Debate
1.
Greek waiters talk not
to me, but my son. Hotel
staff tells me it’s unseemly
for women to travel
alone. Mornings, I take
my coffee to Athens’ National
Park, where a monkey
bit King Alexander
and he died. I do not feel
safe here, do not walk
alone at night, not even
in the touristy Plaka
past sleeping men under
eaves of shops that once
sold olive oil, leather sandals,
Byzantine icons, replica gods.
She’s gone too—Athena, fierce
warrior with her fierce gray stare.
2.
When I was a girl in El Paso,
our Greek friend refused
to give away
his daughter in marriage.
She had dishonored him—
Catholic girls got pregnant
since birth control was
a sin. Apparently
forgivable, since Father Finnegan
let one girl play
“Having My Baby” during
her wedding mass. Visiting
Greece is a throwback
to my girlhood of mighty
Church, mighty Father, Aegean
blue like the Virgin’s
robes, where my son refuses
to swim.
3.
The bread is delivered
without your asking. The best
comes with olives, hummus,
beet dip. The appetizer
not ordered is included
in the bill, as if the debt
we owe Greece will be paid
bite-by-bite. We are responsible
for the country’s bankruptcy, for
its small pipes we clog
with toilet paper, for its graffiti,
its unemployed. We pay for bottled
water when the server claims
there is no tap water.
This country feels more oriental
than occidental, my son
comments. And I see
what he means. It’s
as if we descended directly
from Lord Elgin or stole
the marbles ourselves. It’s
as if bread, water, toilets will
be bartered in this cradle
of civilization
where we owe, owe, owe.
About the Author:
Susan Ayres is a poet, lawyer, and translator. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing with a Concentration in Translation from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She also holds a PhD in Literature from Texas Christian University. Her work has appeared in Sycamore Review, Cimarron Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Fort Worth and teaches at Texas A&M University School of Law.
