Penny Thoughts — from Penelope
This week’s poem, Penny Thoughts, is spoken from the point of view of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, who has been holding down the home front for some 20 years or so. Meanwhile Odysseus was out traveling the world, fighting the Tojan war, making gods made at him, getting caught up in 10 years of adventures while trying to return from the Trojan War, and generally being heroic.
So I have to ask you: if your spouse left you for 10 or 20 years, even if you were completely loyal, as Penelope is supposed to have been, don’t you think you’d be a little ambivalent about your spouse’s return? A lot of things can happen in 20 years. People change. What seemed like a good idea when you were young (marry the up and coming hero) might not look so necessary now (if I got along without him for this long, what do I do with him when he comes back?). I think Penny might be having some second thoughts, or at least a little anxiety, about Odysseus’ return.
Penny Thoughts
I slept alone
it pleased me
I rolled in new linens
which were not the shroud
the city hoped to use to trap me
*
I did sleep alone
and here I think you know
what I mean
and am not saying
*
I kept the hearth from disrepair
I did not permit the sea
to make me yearn
*
From harvests:
I salted the lemons
I cured the olives
*
Seagulls scraped their calls
across my heart
emptying emptying
ah the rocky shore hated me
merciless
*
The home he left remains
I remain
and now he comes
twenty-odd years
to break my peace
*
these gray braids
these slow hands
these standing stones
sentinel against sea spray
*
I spin
like all girls spin
counter-sunrise
counter his return
*
What need I now
from his too-large
too-loud
twosomeness?
*
The olive tree remains
and I need it
though it does not need me
If you enjoyed Penny Thoughts
You’ll find more of my poems on this blog or in the collection Stars Crawl Out From Their Caves, which is available in both ebook and print. Missed a poem of the week? Links to prior weeks are on this page.
Have a great week!