Content Warning: allusions to suicide, death
Wendy Howe – Evening Burial
Crows circle in the blue dusk
while a shovel stands
stabbing the earth with its stone blade;
and Antigone kneels
in her linen gown
to hug her brother's body.
Her dark hair
catches moonlight in its braided web
and wind that carries his voice --
calling her name
as he heads toward the river.
His soul released, waiting to cross
while hers remains
behind shutters of bone
and caught in a conflict
she cannot resolve
without hemp or dagger.
The sky darkens and birds
scatter into the olive trees
shaking down their pitted fruit. Perhaps
to serve as payment
for her brother's passage; and in the hours
or days that follow -- her own.
Softly, she sobs
watching old branches
balance the evening flock
and feels the itch
of loose strands on her neck
as if touched, prompted
by a splintering rope.
Wendy Howe is an English teacher who lives in California. Her poetry reflects her interest in myth, women in conflict and ancient cultures, she has been published in journals both on-line and in print which include Eternal Haunted Summer, Liminality, Songs of Eretz, Indelible Magazine, Not One of Us, The Poetry Salzburg Review, Silver Blade and others. Her most recent work has appeared in Coffin Bell and Eye to the Telescope.
Photograph: Blue Magic by Wendy Hess
Wendy Hess is from Berkeley California, USA. As an Artist, Photographer and Author, she enjoys the Gothic, Classic, Humorous, Magic, and Bizarre side of Life. Her work has been featured in Cauldron Anthology, Seaborne, Floresta, Acropolis Journal, Lavender Bones, Nymph Magazine, and Disability In Fairytales And Folklore.