Nina

“how is a Greek chorus like a lawyer
they’re both in the business of searching for a precedent
finding an analogy
locating a prior example
so as to be able to say
this terrible thing we’re witnessing now is
not unique you know it happened before
or something much like it
we’re not at a loss how to think about this
we’re not without guidance
there is a pattern
we can find an historically parallel case
and file it away under
ANTIGONE BURIED ALIVE FRIDAY AFTERNOON
COMPARE CASE HISTORIES 7, 17 AND 49
now I could dig up those case histories
tell you about Danaos and Lykourgos and the sons of Phineus
people locked up in a room or a cave or their own dark mind
it wouldn’t help you
it doesn’t help me
it’s Friday afternoon
there goes Antigone to be buried alive”
― Anne Carson, Antigonick

“I went mad, a god hurt me, I fell.”
― Anne Carson, Grief Lessons: Four Plays by Euripides

“to carry one's own door will make a person
clumsy, tired and strange
on the other hand, it may come in useful
if you go places that don't have an obvious way in, like normality
or an obvious way out, like the classic double bind”
― Anne Carson, Antigonick

“What are we made of but hunger and rage?”
― Anne Carson, Plainwater: Essays and Poetry