Content Warning: death, dark themes
Kate Meyer-Currey - Hecate: move through darkness
Do not confuse me, as mortal
scholars have done, for other
lesser deities; I am daughter
of Titans, born before time.
I recall truths the stylus forgot;
blurred into wax tablets, reborn
as mere myth.
I was the natural mother and
mistress of all realms: I held
sway over air and sea to the
depths of hell.
I am the torchbearer; she that
kept the fire and blazed a trail
for gods and men.
I guided Demeter down paths
to the Underworld, in search of
Persephone, her daughter. My
light was the joy of recognition
in their wan faces.
I was at Persephone’s side in
Hades’ dark kingdom, where
she must wait out the winter.
I returned her safe to roam
the free fields of spring and
summer, dropping flowers at
her feet like heaven’s stars.
I topped temple pedestals.
I stood at every crossroads:
the triple waymark of past,
present and future.
I was the threshold between
life and death.
I was forgotten by men, down
heedless years and altered
custom.
I was supplanted by brassy
new beliefs and other votives
stole my fire.
I was banished underground;
crowned queen of the night by
their guilt-haunted memories.
I hold dominion over darkness:
my supplicants are witches and
ghosts; the message-bearers
between living and dead.
I am the fitful light of the moon:
I wax and wane according to
mortal whim.
I hold secrets; truths and lies: I
speak through curses inscribed
on lead; buried in graves, fallen
in wells.
I am keeper of the hidden flame
that glows through the veil of lost
years shrouding my face.
I watch over those who still have
courage to stare into the dark.
Kate Meyer-Currey moved to Devon in 1973. A varied career in frontline settings has fuelled her interest in gritty urbanism, contrasted with a rural upbringing. Her ADHD instils a sense of ‘other’ in her writing. She has had over eighty poems published. Her first chapbook ‘County Lines’ (Dancing Girl Press) comes out this Autumn. Her second, ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ (Contraband Books) is due out in February 2022.
Photograph: Prayer Radar by Karin Hedetniemi
Karin Hedetniemi is a nonfiction writer and street photographer from Vancouver Island, Canada, inspired by the natural world, and ordinary beauty in quiet places. Her photos and cover images are recently published in CutBank, Pithead Chapel, Invisible City, Barren Magazine, Parentheses, and nominated for Best of the Net from The Bitchin' Kitsch. Find Karin on Twitter/Instagram @karinhedet and AGoldenHour.com.