‘Solar Eclipse, 648 BC’
— Andrew Sargus Klein
Sometimes you think, “Celebrities, they’re just like us!” but really, no, they’re nothing like us. Really, I feel most like a celebrity when I take my iPhone out of its clunky rubber case. What hits closer to home is the thought: “ancient poets, they get it, too,” and I am so happy Asymptote Journal unearthed this incredible fragment of a poem written 2,500 years ago by Achilochus. It’s about a solar eclipse (I wonder if we’ve had one of those recently?) and it’s weird as hell. It somehow goes from “Nothing’s unreasonable” to “Terrible dead has fallen upon men” to “walking creatures, having sex with dolphins.” This might technically be a fragment, but in today’s aesthetic, it’s about as whole as a poem can be.