4 Comments
User's avatar
Frank Dent's avatar

Your poem “medusa with the head of perseus” sent me looking for my battered old copy of Edith Hamilton’s classic Mythology just to be sure: yep, its cover illustration by Steele Savage shows Perseus with the head of Medusa, presumably drawn from Cellini’s statue that I’m guessing you’re referencing.

I like the last two stanzas where the speaker simply walks around to the back of the statue. Often in ekphrastic poems the speaker is static; good to see some movement.

Your poem is also, I think, very much in the tradition of poems like Rilke’s famous sonnet “Archaic Torso of Apollo.”

Keep up the good work.

https://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2016/04/rilke-archaic-torso-of-apollo-from.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Hamilton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steele_Savage (who does he remind you of?)

Expand full comment
Celeste Briefs's avatar

This comment was truly wonderful to find after a long day of work (at Target, not writing😋). I love being able to inspire people with my words, especially the ones that have to do with ancient stories and the wisdom therein. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the actual statue "Medusa with the Head of Perseus," created by Luciano Garbati in 2008 that is currently located in Manhattan, but in case you aren't here's a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa_with_the_Head_of_Perseus

Thank you, thank you thank you once again for these lovely words and for the encouragement. I promise I will not stop writing any time soon😊✨🌿

Expand full comment
Frank Dent's avatar

Ah yes, I wasn’t aware of Garbati’s statue.

I still find the old stories interesting, particularly when the point of view is changed, for example in John Gardner’s Grendel, which tells the Beowulf story from the monster’s perspective. With many of the Greek myths, there were always multiple versions, so it seems like a few more would be consistent with that tradition.

I wonder if you’d enjoy Christa Wolf’s Cassandra as much as I did. The book includes a short novel of the Trojan War as told by Cassandra, but also four sort of travel essays about Wolf’s trip to Greece that was the genesis for the novel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christa_Wolf

Expand full comment
Teresa Vonfeldt-Gross's avatar

Congratulations!!

Expand full comment