Drawing by Susan C. Price
Elektra
By Eric Meub
Elektra
By Eric Meub
They call me Amber. You can hazard why –
Some rock you rub on fur to make sparks fly.
And I’ve been rubbed, all right: Dad went to war;
Mom found herself a dandy (she’s a whore).
What can I say about this chaperone
Who’s got so little guts, so much cologne?
I take Dad’s side, of course: what wife would rub
Her man out while he’s soaking in the tub?
(A note to every man who has a wife:
Go nowhere in this world without a knife.)
My brother ran off – he was just a boy –
But he’ll come back and act the real McCoy,
Undress that fancy man with one clean slice.
Such happy endings have a hefty price:
The girl who dreams of murdering her mom
Will hardly be invited to the prom.
My vengeance, after all, depends on chance,
And life goes on after the victory dance:
The future’s unanticipated facts
Are less concerned with Clytemnestra’s axe
And more with finding me a different vent
If there aren’t crimes enough for punishment.
I know some girls named Amber round about:
How do they stop the sparks from coming out?
| Copyright © 2019 by Susan C. Price & Eric Meub Eric Meub, architect, lives and practices in Pasadena, the adopted brother of the artist, Susan C. Price. They respect, in their different ways, the line. |
Glorious! Utterly captivating, to transport the story of Agamemnon & Clytemnestra, of Aegisthus & Elektra & Orestes, to our age of proms and phrases like “the real McCoy”! It urges me back to the Greek classics that Eric Meub knows so well. And Susan C. Price’s drawing suggests the character of Clytemnestra incisively.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan & Eric, for this menage. It’s your viewers’ and readers’ treat.
GOOD morning! a newbie. the book grows xoxo
ReplyDeleteAre you and Eric actively preparing a book of paired drawings and poems, then? Have you a working title? I would love to help you with it.
Delete(A note to every man who has a wife:
ReplyDeleteGo nowhere in this world without a knife.)
Two wonderful lines.
Enjoyed the way the rhyme scheme did not feel forced, but was quite natural. I will surely be looking to read more of your work.