Selected poems
The Dinner Guest
The rhetoric of elites
sets off his built-in shit detector.
He much prefers to eat
with hookers, drunks and tax collectors.
The Fall of Nebuchadnezzar
He once was king of Babylon…but now
he’s drenched in dew and frolics like a cow.
Advice from Jonah
‘If God is calling and you bail,
you might end up inside a whale.’
Shepherd’s Lament
‘I left my farm. I gave up everything
to strum my harp before an angry king.’
A Roman’s Epiphany
Why is there darkness?
Where is the sun?
You feel the thunder.
What’s done is done.
The veil of the temple
is torn asunder;
a Roman centurion
is filled with wonder.
Damian Balassone is the author of three volumes of poetry, including the forthcoming collection of short poems and epigrams Love is a Weird Cat.