Moon Shine by Lindsay Hayward
The moon drifts in on darkness
Swelling over minor constellations
In her wake. I swim,
A lone satellite
In her tidal’s pull.
Clytaemnestra by Taylor McClintock
The name was little more than a hiss under your breath—
Iphigeneia…
Iphigeneia…
when word from the gods reached Mycenae, seething,
and you learned of your husband’s victory:
the scourge of Troy.
An achievement wrought from sin,
loyalty granted by drowning
the girl of tears,
an innocent and beautiful voice,
to honor the cruelty of war.
But—you knew better than to trust fate.
The altar fires blazing,
you awaited Agamemnon’s return.
Blood boiling and writhing beneath,
a plan was forged in the ambers
to set everything right,
to challenge the balance of gods and men.
You laid tainted tapestries;
a river of lies flowing red
toward the palace doors.
The mighty Agamemnon took careful steps
to reclaim his rightful, cursed throne.
And the kingdom kissed his feet.
You played the part well, for a time:
welcoming the hero, kneeling, praying,
and stoking the flames of his hearth.
He believed in that false warmth,
that he could be forgiven
for that one fateful sacrifice.
Did they ever think of your authority?
As a mother? As a queen?
What about your justice?
The world left you battered and breathless;
overshadowed by the demands of treacherous gods and eager warriors.
It was time to salvage the broken pieces.
Agamemnon leaned for a kiss,
but was met with straw and kindling;
the fire grew without him.
You bloomed and burned,
the endless night lit by your torch.
And he melted away at the sight.
The silver blade sang
as you sunk it deep in his chest.
The king slumped to his knees,
and his blood poured onto the palace floor,
seeping into the fire of the hearth.
And the future died beside him.
When the betrayal was repaid
and your once great love
drowned in the scarlet-stained cauldron,
you accepted the prophecy:
An agent of vengeance
who would die at the hands of her son.
Agamemnon’s stolen power resonated in you,
but your fight could not escape the laws of fate.
Questioning the gods and
challenging the world of men
always come at a price,
and you now owe that debt.
But just for a moment, you let everything slip away.
You were no longer in the palace
of death and bloody robes,
drenched in your daughter’s flesh.
You could breathe life into her again,
whispering the name one last time:
Iphigeneia
Semper Paratus by Carol Hohmann
I remember you
forever,
standing on the dock
the Pacific Ocean behind you.
I sketched that
once,
for an art class
lost in the grading process.
I remember you,
gentle,
we were innocent together
swimming, dancing, smiling, and kissing.
You told me
how,
you played pipe organs
…no man like you, forever.
I see
whales, fish, seaweed,
boats, oceans, ship channels, lighthouses,
racing hydroplanes, buoys, round lifesavers,
hear
fog horns, concert organs, water waves, and CSN&Y,
touch the sand,
remember
the wind in your hair,
my hand in yours.
Where are you now?
Sink by Katherine Johnson
I am a sink
And God has turned the water to cold
My eyes turn red and I think of why
Life means nothing to me now but I leave that untold
Because I want people to try
To not let themselves sink
I am a sink
And God has turned the water to hot
I am alive and I am electrified
With new ideas, expressions, and whatnot
Nothing’s gonna break my stride
And I am not going to sink
I am a sink
And God has turned both waters on
I am full of ambition yet empty of life
I’m blooming with ideas but they rest upon
My internal and unrelenting strife
Between finding stability or the choice to sink
I am a sink
And God has ‘repaired’ me
I’m not broken, but here I am
As stable as the strongest oak tree
But strength is a bitter scam
When you’d rather sink
I am a sink
But I want to be hot and cold
The extremes are scary but I’d rather have the ability to care
My feelings are my greatest strength, my precious gold
Stability just turns the water off, leaving me with empty air
And no way to sink