April 2016 Iphigenia @AlinaMeridon

Iphigenia

The Sacrifice of Iphigenia, by François Perrier (1594–1649)

Artemis, having been deeply offended by the arrogance of Agamemnon, demonstrated just why you should never risk the wrath of the gods. At the moment of Agamemnon’s greatest triumph, the assembled armies of Greece under his command, ready to set sail across the wine-dark sea to sack and loot their great rival Troy, and incidentally ‘liberate’ the beautiful Helen, Artemis calmed the winds. The greatest army ever raised, including in its ranks such incomparable heroes as Achilles and Odysseus, was forced to wait in increasing desperation for favourable weather, precious supplies eaten up amidst growing certainty that the gods would not bless their grand venture.

to a hero wed
but not at Hymen’s altar
blood of innocence

golden-haired princess
born of an ignoble king
Iphigenia!

discord in brooklyn
this classical sacrifice
brings tears to the eyes

And it was all Agamemnon’s fault. The seer, Calchas, said so. Indeed, so furious was Artemis that she demanded the impossible from the Mycenaean king: the sacrifice of his first-born, Iphigenia. But Agamemnon’s ambition as leader of the Greek armies was greater than his compassion as a father. Following the advice of Odysseus, ever the trickster, he lured the girl from her home under the pretense that she was to be married to Achilles – no less! – but when she was led to the altar it was not marriage that awaited her there but death.

But a deal is a deal. The winds blew, the armies sailed, and we all know the rest of the story. Achilles sat around sulking for nine years, Odysseus’s passion for wooden toys got a little out of proportion, and Helen eventually got married for the fourth time.

A musical joke: Iphigenia in Brooklyn by P. D. Q. Bach (Peter Schickele) – performed by Ensemble Monterey

I have long had a fascination with the story of Iphigenia, and this month I was inspired to write some poems, but also I learned that Iphigenia appears in Dante’s Paradise, and discovered the fantastically funny cantata Iphigenia in Brooklyn – that’s not a great recording, but the performance is excellent.

• Iphigenia, A haiku-tanka villanelle about Iphigenia
• Iphigenia in Paradise, Musing on Iphigenia in Dante’s Paradise
• Iphigenia, or: The Girl From Ipinama, On the origin of the myth of Iphigenia
• a father’s love, Some haiku about Greek mythology

For more about Iphigenia and also my personal quest for her, see these earlier posts:

• Iphigenia at Brauron, Artemis; Brauron; Lucretius
• Alyth and Artemis, Artemis; Hecate; The Gate to Woman’s Country
• In the annals of ancient Crete…, Boccaccio; Dante
• Writing Iphigenia – A Love Story, History; Chronology; Atlantis
• Iphigenia in England, Boccaccio; Dryden; Fittleworth; Jan Steen
• Farewell to Iphigenia, Artemis; Sacrifice; Heroism

Finally, I wrote this science fiction poem a long time ago:

• Ghenya on Typhoeus, Almost a space opera…

Latest News

April has been a busy month, and an exciting one. To start with, literally, my first ever acceptance of haiku/senryu submitted to a journal: Issue No. 4 of Failed Haiku features three of my senryu, along with 100 pages of senryu from other, very talented poets.

My novelette I Like It Hard is now available for pre-order from the excellent Less Than Three Press. I’m currently proofing the galley (making the ship’s kitchen impervious to water? seems logical…) and the expected release date is June 8th.

A couple of poems this month on the theme of I Like It Hard:

• Natural, Baring myself to the audience
• I Like It Hard (short version), Plot summary

And some with an aromantic theme:

• Anguisher, An acrostic
• Alloromantics!, A rant
• How do I love thee?, A sonnet
• Do not speak to me of love, A curt dismissal

Also an aromantic drabble:

• Not a romantic fairytale, Cinderella

Alexis 5-1-8: Starship Pegasus

The ill-fated Alexis 5-1-8 returned from Publisher No. 3 with its tale between its leather-booted legs: “the story does not fit our current list needs”, which translates roughly as, “Your synopsis sucks.” Maybe it does. I’m thinking it’s a mistake to target LGBTQ+ publishers and next time I’ll try a SciFi publisher.

On a brighter note: How do you like the Starship Pegasus?

Three poems this month on the theme of A.I., sexbots and Alexis 5-1-8:

• Quantum Computer, Schrödinger in the head
• Sexbot, A villanelle about a sexbot
• The patience of a saint, A sexbot hard at work in a brothel

National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo)

This is the third year that I’ve attempted NaPoWriMo. In 2014, NaPoWriMo was the birth of my Supergirl obsession, and in 2015 I attempted to do it with a steampunk theme but faltered halfway through. This year I didn’t have a theme, and didn’t quite manage to blog a poem every day, but it has been fun and varied:

• Unafraid, Lilith in the Garden
• Coal Fire, A steam train amongst the pigeons
• diamonds, Tears over lost words
• A crime, A NaPoWriMo poem about NaPoWriMo
• cancer, A trio of haiku
• There once was a daft limerick, and they really are daft…
• A resonant echo, A rhyming villanelle about writing
• Moonlight, Forests and ferocity
• Pricked, A beauty of a haiku
• Unprotected, A replacement poem
• How perfectly pansexual, An awakening
• Never what you think, Fluid identity
• Helpless Lips, A succubus hunts for love
• Where is my love?, Grief over a lost love
• A lunatic I, A werewolf lune

Other Posts

• my nose and i – doomed to invisibility, Round-up of April’s haiku