In none of the versions do stars reel from their courses as Orpheus plays. Always the stones, roots, rivers that cannot keep still at his song. So suppose it’s not just his song but a woman, singing back to him. Not Eurydice, with her mouth full of dark. An ordinary woman, in plain dress, singing of ordinary loss. The child turned against her, the lover gone, her womb drying. Or maybe a sick mother, a brother on drugs, a boss who thinks equality might not be a bad idea, but where is it supported in the natural order? A woman who sings not in patterned forms but according to the rhythm of her blood so that some of the songs rush, some are slower than the slowest shoes, unlaced, too big, dragged along an alley street. A woman who sings of kitchens and weeds and the fixed stars we started with . . . And then suppose over time not one but thousands of women sing like this as not one but thousands of rivers carry songs past where we stand. Or say it’s the birds singing, opening their mouths at dawn to sing of where we’ve been and gone, of where we’ll go and be tomorrow. Wouldn’t a woman know enough to sing along? And doesn’t it make sense that when the head of Orpheus floats downriver, the mouth that sings is no more than the ordinary mouth of man or woman, reed or river, grieving over time?
Lynne Knight has published six full-length poetry collections and six chapbooks. Her poems have been widely published in journals such as Poetry and The Southern Review; her awards include a Poetry Society of America Award, a RATTLE Poetry Prize, and a National Endowment of the Arts fellowship. Although she lived in the United States for most of her life, she now lives on Vancouver Island.
12/19 / Meet the Artist with visiting poet-in-residence Kristen Renee Miller / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 6:00 pm EST / Free
12/19 / Poetry Reading with visiting poet-in-residence Kristen Renee Miller + Arsimmer McCoy / The Library at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7:30 pm EST / Free
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I love this poem because it's part lament, part battle cry. Pretty sure I know every word of the song they were singing. ❤️