Helen of Troy, 1993 Poems
Book - 2025
"In the hills of Sparta, Tennessee, in the early nineties, Helen makes a drastic choice to break free from the life that stifles her: marriage, motherhood, the monotonous duties of a small-town housewife. But in this world of community and tradition, leaving isn't the same thing as staying gone... Rooted in the lush natural world of Middle Tennessee, this debut poetry collection explores Helen's isolation and rebellion as her expansive personality wars against the social rigidity of her community. In richly layered poems with settings that range from football games to Chuck E. Cheese to the bathroom of a Motel 6, Helen enters adulthood as a disaffected homemaker grasping for agency. She marries the wrong man, births a child s...he is not ready to parent, and embarks on an affair that throws her life into chaos. But she never surrenders ownership of her story or her choices, insisting to the reader: "if you never owned a bone-sharp biography . . . / i don't want to hear it. i want you silent. / i want you listening to me." Part retelling, part character study, Helen of Troy, 1993 is a sharp, visceral debut poetry collection that blends the line between myth and modernity with an unforgettable voice that shows the Homeric Helen like she's never been seen before"--
- Subjects
- Genres
- Poetry
- Published
-
New York
Scribner
2025
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Edition
- First Scribner trade paperback edition
- Physical Description
- Seiten
- ISBN
- 9781668046333
- Helen of troy feuds with the neighborhood
- Helen of troy makes an entrance
- Helen of troy calls her sister
- Helen of troy in february
- The spartan women discuss the local waterfowl
- Helen of troy's new whirlpool washing machine
- About the affair
- Helen of troy is asked to the spring formal
- (interlude: the swan describes the next hour)
- Helen of troy tells her mother it's a graduation girl and drives alone to the clinic in nashville
- The spartan women discuss the big cheese
- Helen of troy meets the big cheese
- Helen of troy catalogues her pregnancy cravings
- Helen of troy in the delivery ward
- Helen of troy avoids her school reunion
- Helen of troy cranks the volume on "like a prayer" ballet studio parking lot
- Helen of troy watches Jurassic park in theaters
- The spartan women discuss the family
- Helen of troy gets the news from her sister
- (interlude: the swan describes the harvest)
- Helen of troy surfs the net
- Another thing about the affair
- Helen of troy folds laundry in a dim room
- Helen of troy runs the station wagon into a ditch
- Helen of troy recovers at st. francis
- Helen of troy cleans up after the barbecue
- And another thing about the affair
- The spartan women discuss tennessee
- (interlude: the swan describes an invasive species)
- Helen of troy goes parking with the defensive tackle
- Helen of troy runs to piggly wiggly
- About the affair again
- (interlude: the swan describes the war)
- One more thing about the affair
- The spartan women discuss the stranger
- Helen of troy returns to sparta
- Helen of troy joins the ice fishing trip
- One last thought on the affair
- Helen of troy's turn to judge
- (interlude; the swan describes the ouroboros)
- Helen of troy catches reruns
- Helen of troy recalls the tenth date
- Helen of troy honeymoons on st. John
- The spartan women discuss the kid
- Helen of troy reigns over chuck e. cheese
- Helen of troy makes peace with the kudzu
- The end of the affair
- Helen of troy explains to the gods
- The spartan women discuss helen of troy
- Helen of troy plants near the mailbox
- Afterword
- Acknowledgments
- Notes