2 Poems
By Helen Armstrong
The Wrath of Achilles
1.
What did you think,
Patroclus?
When you donned his armor,
When your bones grew
Twice their size and the
Salt sea water of the gods
Filled your lungs with pride
And power.
2.
You held his name in your mouth
Like a branding iron
You called on his power
The envy of man
Aristos Achaeon
Best of the Greeks
3.
When the scorned earth
Falls to the gods,
And their hands gather
The dust of the people
Like ashes from a fire
Will they remember you?
4.
I know
His love hurt.
Holding his strength
Inside you
Killed you.
5.
Did you bleed,
And was the blood gold?
Or was it rust red,
And did it trail behind you as
He dragged your body
And did you hear his screams
From the afterlife where you
Hovered, waiting for them
To pass you along,
Waiting to wait for him?
6.
Where are you now,
And where is he?
Is he on Olympus
Sipping the nectar
Of the plants of the gods?
Did Hades take his hand
And walk him across the
River Styx,
His feet flitting over the
Water?
Are you with him there
Or are you alone,
Patroclus?
And what do you think?
“when you’re floating in the dead sea i lay in our bed and write this poem to you”
i’ve begun to run out of new ways to say
i love
you so i recycle the old ones
wrinkled as i draw them from my
throat, and you deserve more from a
writer like me, i’m sorry i only have
one language for
you.
does it help to know
i’ve invented it myself from
scraps i gathered in
corners of my body i
never knew existed until you
shone a light into them?
About the Author
Helen Armstrong is a senior Print Communications major with a Creative Writing minor. At Arcadia, she served for several semesters as Editor in Chief of Loco Mag. Her work has appeared in Quiddity, Catfish Creek, and Cleaver Magazine. After graduation, she plans to move to Colorado to live on top of a mountain and pen an epic 500K word novel about insects. For further inquiries, please contact her manager and dog, Spirit the Samoyed.