purl

by Michele Evans

Using a mixture of poetic forms varying in subject, shape, style, and size, purl reimagines timeless myths from Homer's Odyssey. Stitched from classical translations, this poignant collection from Michele Evans, resurrects feminine forces from ancient Greek mythology and relocates them in modern portraits and landscapes, pastoral and urban. Invoking Phillis Wheatley Peters as her muse, Evans amplifies a chorus of the marginalized: queens and maidens, mothers and daughters, wives and mistresses, goddesses and slaves, "muffled voices rarely heard."

Genres: Poetry

82 pages, Hardcover

Published February 14, 2025

Reviews

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poems reimagining the stories from the Odyssey.

from athenia: "who really needs saving? hi or me? I know it's bad to wish lightning would strike him down, but I am tired of extending an olive branch, especially when it's not deserved. i mean, is he even capable of loving me like the divine goddess i am?"

from aeaea: "i had no mamma to show me round the kitchen / for she took her last breath as i took my first. // my skin honeyed and caramelized kept me in the big house, / away from my own, hidden from kin but not the ruthless one / always hovering above, a sunny master burning picked bolls."

from melancholia: "i rewrite their stories to avoid sharing my own / autobiography—truths hiding in plain sight / behind archetypes greek, classical in nature / so different from my heritage and culture / and yet also very much the same."

[Tracey G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t wait for the next one! Wonderful collection.