Patagonia v2

[Wjames]

Patagonia


The last of the giants lived on the eastern slopes 
of the southern tip of the Andes, far from the plains
most men of smaller stature called their home. 

Every so often, he clambered down to sate
that most essential urge---not just to mate 
but to beget---and since he only aged I like this line break.

in myths, his youthful looks proved suit enough 
for those who’d heard of him: for those who’d not, 
he was untroubled by the odd abduction. 

Still, there were certain lines he would not cross Rape is no concern, but inbreeding is - intersting.
by always preferring the shortest, the ones least likely
to be his seed, such that the nearby crop 

depleted with every harvest---such that he found
whole tribes of men too tall---he had to stray
farther and farther, he had to lose his way, this rhyme isn't quite as nice as the sate/mate one above.

he had to suppress the urge to head for home
and, in the end, he made it the only urge
his body could move to sate. When he returned, The sentence that ends with sate is very long and a little unwieldy - could read nicer if you cut it into several sentences? It also repeats several phrases 'such that', 'he had to' - might be nicer without these repetitions?

it was no wonder his knees at once gave out:
he fell headlong to the earth, bursting his skull
and spilling the clumps of gold for which his seed
would, in a crueler epoch, be bled white.  An interesting image portending future imperialism, I enjoyed the word play with the 'seed' being bled white.

Reworking this NaPM piece. I guess my last NaPM post wasn't the last one after all

Hey River, I hadn't heard of the myth of giants from patagonia until reading this. I think it's a strong poem.