persephone on hades

a companion piece to my poem "hades on persephone"

dark.
gloomy.
cold.

lonely.

this tomb, this coffin that I am trapped in
(as trapped as he is)
stinks like soggy wood and regret.

he calls me flower.
calls me sunshine.
smiles at me like i'm the sun
and the softest sweetest lilies,
when i am the soil that he owns
And the roots of many things
that no one remembers the names of.

my mother once raged at the thought of him,
him and his brothers.
called them hounds
fiends
lechers.
i wouldn't know.
i'm too "soft" to be ogled at.

(softness isn't a weakness,
it is a strength.
it makes men and women forget
that there's anything more to you
than rosy cheeks
and shy smiles
and flower crowns
instead of remembering
that you have the power
to yank up tree roots
and impale men upon them.
mother likes to forget that too.
odd, since i got my rage
from her and zeus.)

there is a field,
a field that I sleep in,
(a field of flowers
that don’t match my coloring)
And I know he watches me.
he sees me from afar and wants.

(no one has wanted me before.
i wonder if he knows what he's
getting into.
i wonder what i'm getting into.)

he thinks i am delicate.
fragile.
pink at the edges.
he forgets that there are plants who devour.
plants that feast.
he forgets that trees
and mushrooms
and vines
and ivy
care not about who a man is
but only about the nutrients his bones will give them.

Reviews

[Green]

This is such a neat read. I've always really enjoyed mythology. It's so full of unique stories and tales and interesting ways of explaining the world. Hades abducting Persephone is probably one of the ones I actually forget I know until I think about it. I'd never really thought of the story from one of their perspectives before; I'd always just read it as it was. To hear Persephone's thoughts as you've portrayed them here though adds a whole different dimension to the tale. As I've always heard it, she was pretty and that's about it. She never really had any real depth to her, but to hear you tell it she's powerful, and strong, thoughtful, and secretive, and maybe even seductive. Overall, I really enjoyed it.

[Will Graham]

Thank you! I've always envisioned Persephone as someone who's really underestimated, I guess. She's the goddess of spring, so it's natural that a lot of people just think of her as this pretty girl in pastels. But, for me, spring is also a time of rebirth through destruction, like with wildfires, tornadoes, and floods. I wanted to push through the concept that while yes, she loves flowers and soft things, she still has the very present capability to destroy and be violent like Zeus and Demeter are shown to be. Thanks for enjoying it!