Iphigenia

That poor dove,

breast split,

fingers digging out guts

still flaps, rasps out squawks

that choke my throat.

The stories don’t tell you about that,

or the smell, not just

blood-metal,

but bile, too, and the shit

that hides inside.

The seer drags

the innards out, plop,

like worms, into the bowl,

stares, pokes, spreads them—

very wise and very solemn.

And then he’s done,

wipes hands on spotless linen,

drops the bloody cloth and tells them:

If they want their winds,

the girl must die.

If they want their war,

the girl must die.

Watch the general’s face.

Does he wince, or grow pale?

Is there ever any question,

my war or my daughter?

Even for an instant

does her father wonder?

Give me that instant,

tossed coin flashing in the air,

or caught and covered by a hand,

give me one moment when

we do not know

what Agamemnon plans.

About the author

Donna Glee Williams is a poet, editor, scholar, and writer of literary fantasy and historical fiction. Her poetry has appeared in a wide range of publications, from literary magazines like The Main Street Rag, Inch, The Bellingham Review, and The New Delta Review, to venues where poetry is welcomed less often: The New Orleans Times Picayune, Psychological Perspectives, The Great Toxics March from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, and the stage of the Diana Wortham Theater in Asheville. She makes her home in the mountains of western North Carolina, but the craft societies in her novels The Braided Path and Dreamers owe a lot to the time she's spent in Mexico, Spain, Italy, Israel, Turkey, India, Wales, Ireland, and Pakistan. Her forthcoming novel The Night Field is based on the work she did in India on a Fulbright Senior Environmental Leadership Fellowship in 2008. As a finalist in the 2015 Roswell Awards for Short Science Fiction, her short story "Saving Seeds" was performed in Hollywood by Jasika Nicole. Her graceful speculative fiction has been recognized by Honorable Mentions from both the Writers of the Future competition and Gardner Dozois's Best of the Year collection. These days, she earns her daily bread by writing and helping other writers as an editor, but in the past she's done the dance as turnabout crew (aka, “maid”) on a schooner, as a librarian, as an environmental activist, as a registered nurse, as a teacher and seminar leader, and for an embarrassingly long stint as a professional student.