“Immortal Mother”
By Wendy Osserman
Inspired by ‘Thetis”
Is she drowning him?
Costumed in strips of water
she holds him straight upside down
his baby ankle cupped in her hand
I read the title
she is Achilles' mom
Now I see the blade of moonlight
pointing at his heel
Sky and field
past and future enclose her
a goddess who can change shape
and prophesy
She would hover here forever
to protect him
She might save him
if she let him go
This sea daughter will learn
what mortal mothers know
giving birth
is giving death
“Dear Thetis"
By Teya Priest Johnston
Inspired by “Thetis"
ADULT JURY FIRST PLACE
This is what happened.
I was eleven, sequestered,
hellish, angry, Florida, summer.
Mercy a constant longing.
A reprieve in mother’s drug cabinet.
I slept, not for lack of love,
but a solemn anguish holding vessel.
There were pools everywhere,
except not in our backyard.
The slap of awakening
was severe. The house hotly full,
with no sound of baby sister.
I leaped,
the first time seeing,
every curtain closed,
meant no sight of tricycle,
no red wagon carting dolls,
no way to know the world.
Across the street, a manicured yard,
lines of black trim along the white
flat-topped pebbled roof,
no cars in the drive,
a snake-curve of sidewalk led
to the filigree iron gate,
hanging open.
In a fire walker’s
singular hysteria,
no pain, not knowing
how I arrived.
I held my breath.
Thetis, there she was
leaned over, peering down,
hands upon her precious knees,
little mouth pursed
with deciding.