Singing Glory
Homer (if there were a such) said Poets are not to blame for how…this
world is. He/she/they put the blame on Zeus that poor Odysseus had
to slaughter his way home to Ithaca, if not to persevering
Penelope. (But she’s another story.) Back up fifteen hundred
years as Gilgamesh sought the why-of-it-all, his quest for eternal
life after his best bro dies. What is it with hallelujahs for
carnage? Is Zeus still the problem? Why keep sending heroes on journeys,
expecting some guy to bring home a tale of blame, and gore-filled escapades?
What kind of father sends away a beloved son to a bloody death?
Poets, reframe. Call out these misnamed claims. Hubris, sin, not laurels of glory.
The Odyssey p. 116 tr. Emily Wilson
Broadstone Books published Meredith Trede’s Bringing Back the House this March. Main Street Rag Press published Tenement Threnody. Stephen F. Austin State University Press published Field Theory. A Toadlily Press founder, her chapbook, Out of the Book, was in Desire Path. Other journal publications include Barrow Street, The Feminist Wire, Friends Journal, San Pedro River Review, and A Gathering of Tribes. Meredith has had residencies at Blue Mountain Center, Ragdale, Saltonstall, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Virginia and France. She’s on the Slapering Hol Press Advisory Committee mtrede@meredithtrede.com.