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Achilles Dragging the
Body of Hector by Pietro Testa
(c. 1648/1650)
National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C.
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What
are some of your favorite books? What books have you read recently? Do you hold
them in your hands and turn the pages? Read them on a Kindle, Nook, or cell
phone? Listen to them on audiotapes, CDs, or more modern electronic devices?
In
1997, I listened to a translation of The Iliad by Homer on audiotapes in my car as I drove to and from
work. The translation was excellent and so was the reader. I got caught up in
the story and the poetic way it was told, and wrote the following poem:
Riding with Achilles
From
the speakers in my car resound
clashing
swords, screams of pain,
insults,
groans of dying men,
sighs
of women given as gifts,
and
the quarrelsome petulance
of
Greek divinities.
The
upholstery is splattered with blood
and
dirt; the back seat filled
with
armor stolen from bodies
of
the dead. The anger of Achilles
turns
up the heat until I am immersed
in
steam. The tears of Priam rain in
through
the windows.
So overwhelming
are
the smells of rotting fish, battle smoke,
and
Hector's sweat, I strain
for
the fragrance of bread baking;
meat
cooking in cauldrons set on great tripods,
or
the hyacinths in which Zeus lay with Hira
until
at last I finish listening
to
the twelfth audiotape of the Iliad.
~
Wilda Morris
“Riding with
Achilles” was first published in Chaffin Journal, 2006.
As I reread
the poem, it seems that I put myself into the story by bringing the action and
related paraphernalia—blood, tears, armor, cauldrons of meat, etc.—into my car.
Many people
consider Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
to be “The Great American Novel,” though when it was first publihed it would not have made the New York
Times’ Top Ten, had such a list existed when it was written. It was an economic
flop during the author’s lifetime, but became a best-seller later. I listened
to it on CD a few years ago, and fell in love with Melville’s use of language.
I have read the book twice, and listened to it four times. You might say I
became as obsessed with the novel as Ahab was with the white whale. I wrote a
whole book of poems responding to
Moby-Dick in various ways.
Spoiler alert! I asked myself
what impact his father’s death at sea might have had on Starbuck’s son. This
poem was the result:
The
Lament of Starbuck’s Son
Mother says
my father
was a brave
man,
a hero of the
whale fishery,
but to me he
is absence,
emptiness.
Mother says
my father
was kind,
a tender,
loving man,
but to me he
is heartbreak,
Mother’s
tears, her loneliness.
Mother says
my father
was pious,
a faithful,
believing man
but to me, he
is a question—
why a loving
God lets a father drown.
Mother says
my father
was handsome,
wind-tanned,
a
well-remembered man
but to me he
is a fading memory
and ongoing
silence.
~ Wilda
Morris
The May
Challenge:
The
challenge for May is to write and submit a poem that responds in some way to a
book that you have read (or to which you have listened). Your poem may involve
the whole book (as does “Riding with Achilles”) or reflect on one character (as
“The Lament of Starbuck’s Son”). It may deal with a particular incident in the
story, provide a backstory, or suggest an aftermath. You may choose to put yourself in the story. Be creative and go in
whatever direction you wish.
Your
poem may be free verse or formal. If you use a form, please identify the form
when you submit your poem.
Title
your poem unless it is a form that does not use titles. Single-space. Note that
the blog format does not accommodate long lines; if they are used, they have to
be broken in two, with the second part indented (as in the poem “Lilith,” one
of the November 2018 winners). Read previous poems on the blog to see what line
lengths can be accommodated.
You
may submit a published poem if you retain
copyright, but please include publication data. This applies to poems
published in books, journals, newspapers, or on the Internet.
The
deadline is May 15. Poems submitted after the deadline
will not be considered. There is no charge to enter, so there are no monetary
rewards; however, winners are published on this blog. Please don’t stray too
far from “family-friendly” language (some children and teens read this blog).
No simultaneous submissions, please. You should know by the end of the month
whether or not your poem will be published. Decision of the judge or judges is
final.
The
poet retains copyright on each poem. If a previously unpublished poem wins and
is published elsewhere later, please give credit to this blog. I do not
register copyright with the US copyright office, but by US law, the copyright
belongs to the writer unless the writer assigns it to someone else.
If
the same poet wins three months in a row (which has not happened thus far), he
or she will be asked not to submit the following two months.
How to
Submit Your Poem:
Send one poem only to
wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for
“dot”). Put “May Poetry Challenge
Submission” in the subject line of your email. Include a brief bio that can be printed with your poem if you are a
winner this month. Please put your name
and bio UNDER the poem in your email. If the poem has been published
before, please put that information UNDER the poem also. NOTE: If you sent your poem to my other email
address, or do not use the correct subject line, the poem may get lost and not
be considered for publication.
Submission
of a poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog if it is a
winner, so be sure that you put your name (exactly as you would like it to
appear if you do win) at the end of
the poem.
Poems
may be pasted into an email or sent as an attachment (no pdf files, please). Please do not indent the poem or center it
on the page. It helps if you submit
the poem in the format used on the blog (Title and poem left-justified;
title in bold (not all in capital letters); your name at the bottom of the
poem). Also, please do not use multiple spaces instead of commas in the middle
of lines. I have no problem with poets using that technique (I sometimes do it
myself). However I have difficulty getting the blog to accept and maintain
extra spaces.
Poems
shorter than 40 lines are generally preferred but longer poems will be
considered.
©
Wilda Morris
