UnMythed by chris wind

[Chris]

UnMythed

I based many of these poems on Edith Hamilton's summaries of the myths!

[Dean]

I loved this book.

[Chris]

did you mean Hamilton's book or mine?

[Dean]

Hamilton's book. Sorry I saw the cover and thought it was about that book.

[Chris]

right, well it would've helped if i'd linked my book to my post - i'm new at this -

and here's one of my poems - you'll remember Menelaus...


Menelaus

to tell you the truth
I don’t know if she
went willingly
or was taken—
Helen had a mind of her own
and was rather enraged
she wasn’t allowed to use it
to choose her own husband

when I got home
she was gone
and really it was more for show
than anything else
that I—
I was expected to try to get her back
I was expected to be angry
truth is
I didn’t know
if I was jealous or worried

I never intended it to last
nine years
I never intended Troy to fall as it did
all those people, dead
over one woman
one beautiful woman—
(well, really, over one man
—one very stupid man)

but one thing led to another
and soon it was too late
I mean soon there was too much loss
to say this is stupid, let’s forget it—
which one of us could face
the surviving family
and say
we’re quitting, so
your husband, or your father, or your son
died for nothing—
so we had to keep going—
because it just got harder and harder
to stop


•
Helen, reputed to be the fairest woman in the world, had many suitors from rich and powerful families. Her father (Tyndareus, King of Greece) eventually chose Menelaus to be her husband. While Paris (Prince of Troy) was a guest in their home, Menelaus returned one day to find both him and Helen gone. Thus began the great Trojan War. (Thanks to Gwynne Dyer, author of War, for the idea in the last stanza.)
~~~
UnMythed