I originally wrote this poem for an in-class writing assignment in my creative writing class during the 2023 spring semester at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. It was inspired by a couple of different things. The first inspiration was the poem "if you are hungry, i will feed you" by Ire'ne Lara Silva, where in the poem the original line says "bite my hands//when i bring//golden fruit//to your lips" and when we first read that in class I remember immediately thinking about like mythology and folklore and how in a lot of stories you have to be careful of "golden fruit" because its fae food, its ambrosia, it belongs to the gods and creatures greater than humans. The golden fruit is seen as a trap, it's a way to gain eternal life, it's a way to lose innocence and blessings, it's something to be feared and revered. It's the apple, the pomegranate, the olive. Which brings me to my second main inspiration: the Greek Myth about Persephone and Hades. I think at the time I was really into reading adaptations of the story that reframe it not as an abduction but as a willing choice by Persephone to choose either love or power or escape an overbearing mother.
So when Dr. Carstensen had us write a poem including lines from one of the poems we read in class I chose that line from Silva. So the original version of Seasons included that line as well as some other lines that have since been changed. But over the summer I was playing with some old writing and rewrote this poem specifically to not have a direct line from somebody else. Like, the inspiration is still (obviously) there but I wanted to make it more focused on the overall theme of the poem. Then, a few weeks ago (August 2023) I decided to make this a more visual poem. And so in the image I added stuff that shows the story of Hades and Persephone as a way to give readers kinda of like a little scavenger hunt to find the deeper meanings behind the images that I've chosen. I also have a video version of this poem on my TikTok page @C.L.Short.Stories where I read it out loud. The video's visuals are different so I highly suggest you check it out!
Tags:
Visual Poetry Inspired by Greek Mythology, Visual Poetry, Poetry, Greek Mythology, Mythology, Hades, Persephone, Persephone & Hades
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