In the second declension, oυ means
male genitive singular, as in “Θανάτoυ,” as in,
“of Thanatos,” not to be confused with oν,
the ancient Athenians’ accusative singular ending
for neutered, sexless words. It all seems fairly sensible
until you realize the sexless is itself a sex,
and language’s bootleg mask of Halloween rationality
begins to slip,
Thanatos’s pale grin revealed
to be nothing more than sweatshop rubber, sour
smelling, with notes of stale factory
and sweat. His scythe blade arcs, a jaw
of plastic easily snapped off
as a suffix, an “oυ!” of genitive pain.
Its handle is hollow as omicron, echoing oς oς
oς as it taps down the jack-o’-lanternlit street,
an asphalt Cocytus, nonsense wailing congealed,
codified.
Moldering pumpkin grins singe
the fabric of his name, candleflame tongues sputtering
Θά να τoς; σo Θaτ αν; guttering
senseless syllables, gutting the word of sense,
invoking a time before the first Greek
took up the loom and spun language a costume
of system and sanity, weaving the ultimate trick,
that thrift-shop, All-Hallows deception. That is,
deceptioν, accusative singular.
2nd Declension Nouns, Lesson 2: Θάνατoς
Jay Aelick is a birdwatcher, disc golfer, tarot reader, and sometimes even poet. Their work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Ligeia Magazine, the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum, sinking city, Okay Donkey, Common Ground Review, and elsewhere. They are 1/2 of the English Club Podcast, where they critique infamous books as if they had been submitted to a fiction workshop.