Rachel Hadas: ‘The immortal Gods alone have neither age nor death’: Wisdom from Greek tragedies for Joe Biden
It’s useful to think about the potential strengths, as well as the vulnerabilities, of age.
Umit Singh Dhuga: Three poems
We were huddled by the Campbell House bar
on the penultimate Monday of July
downing pint after pint of tepid water.
My first reading sober, your last one alive.
Robert Bernard Hass: Oedipus in Thebes
When he left the palace, the streets were nearly empty
Save for the women wailing at the altar, rending air
With sobs and litanies, the smoke from their incense pots
Thick and fragrant, perfuming the shrouded dead.
Deborah DeNicola: The Death of Socrates
Even the guards listened in
as he taught his eternal lesson,
how to live like a moral human. Politics
back then—as now—rampant, wretched corruption,
a den of sociopaths in sheep’s clothing.
Joel Christensen: Plagues follow bad leadership in ancient Greek tales
As someone who writes about early Greek poetry, I spend a lot of time thinking about why its performance was so crucial to ancient life. One answer is that epic and tragedy helped ancient storytellers and audiences try to make sense of human suffering.
Richard St. John: The Chorus
Sees the women led to ships, and weeps.
Works at the deli counter, evening shift.
