Xarpo: A Sontina
by Mary Christine Delea
Xarpo was the Greek goddess of autumn and the harvest
Just one of the Horai, seasoned like Auxo
and Thallo, it is Xarpo who ripens
your bok choy, cabbage, parsnips, and apples.
Dull compared to others: Artemis, Nyx,
Hecate, et al, but without her we
starve during winter, and no pumpkin pie.
And what would autumn be without the pie?
Yes, spring and summer, Thallo and Auxo,
are needed, but until food is how we
can eat it, who cares? Eating food not ripe
is just as bad as starving. Those Fuji apples,
beets, squash, potatoes—full of heartened nicks
and bruises, unripe? Nix them. Auxo’s apples will kill.
Thallo’s pot pies? Still no. We need Xarpo, drab and chill.
