Penelope Unraveling Her Web (1783-84)
by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797)
Today’s prompt asks us “to write a poem in which you first recall someone you used to know closely but are no longer in touch with, then a job you used to have but no longer do, and then a piece of art that you saw once and that has stuck with you over time. Finally, close the poem with an unanswerable question.” (Full NaPoWriMo post available here.)
This was a tough prompt. I’ve been weaving and unweaving the same patch of text for hours. I’m giving up on it now, because I can’t see clearly, but will hopefully return to this draft in May. Apologies for the length.
PS–The posted draft has expired, but here’s a video of bells tolling at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague (April 2022).
clayandbranches 
a line that sticks with me deeply also uses ‘mere’ – from Yeats’ The Second Coming.
‘mere anarchy is loosed upon the world’.
and you, a mere shroud, here – the same tenor and enormity of this litotes ~
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Thank you, M.!🙏💜🍃
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In awe and awestruck–too stunned by the beauty of your words, I’m going to applaud and say no more. Or may be I can’t help myself for I’m moved…
You are a master weaver Romana. Your loom is clack-clacketing my core.
Thank you.
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Thank you for your kind words, dear Arti🙏💜🍃
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Ooo, so much I wish to say. First, “feasting on her fear”. Do they all do this? I guess so. Second, what we don’t see through is doomed to fail. So all worry is superfluous. The shroud is for us but it doesn’t need to matter. As if we didn’t know we were mortal. And third, the gibberish that you got back? Did you know that it two years ago on this day that we had to do exactly this on here, “translate” from an unfamiliar language? I loved this exercise. I love what we are doing here. Thank you.
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I love that exercise too. The students didn’t like it though, with a few exceptions… You can’t please everybody.🤷🏻♀️
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O My! I can see the amount of work that has gone into this. This is incredible work! 🙂
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Thank you so much, Namratha!🙏💜🍃
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Romana I love your use of mythology here. And the questions in the end, the other possibilities of which we have no answers. I was stumped by this part of the prompt. You showed me how to do it. Thank you for the link to the workshop. I will explore it.
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I’m so glad this piece hangs together for you. I’m so close to it after chipping at words for hours, I can’t even see it.💜🙏🍃
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I love this!
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Thank you!
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OH. my. word. You are a wonder, Romana!
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No, you are!🥰 Thank you, Liz–I really appreciate the support.🙏💜🍃
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This is stunning. It’s like you were waiting for the prompt for it all to come tumbling out.
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Thank you so much!🙏💜🍃 Truth be told, I wrestled with it for hours and foresee more wrestling ahead. Btw, it took me a while to find your poetry blog, but I just did! I’m giving myself a pat on the back.
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I like how you maintain the image of Penelope throughout, the doubts she almost certainly had. The biggest ‘what if’ of course was out of her hands, what if Odysseus had just come straight home?
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Then we wouldn’t have had the Odyssey! But a lot of unnecessary deaths would have been avoided… And Penelope and Odysseus would have had ten more years together, so it’s a no-brainer for me.😍
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I wonder if Penelope would have been any happier? I don’t suppose women’s happiness ever counted for much then.
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That’s true, women were expendable, as they still are in many places in the world, unfortunately. But I want to believe that Penelope would have been happier with Odysseus at home. There must be a reason she kept unraveling that shroud.
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Have you read Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad? I enjoyed her perspective on the story. She treats a lot of issues in it.
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Not yet–and it’s long overdue. I’ll put it at the top of my wish list.
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It’s a quick read, but it stayed with me.
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