The Antigone Poems poems by Marie Slaight art by Terrence Tasker

Category: 50 Books

antigone

This slim book of poetry is stunning. I chose to read it because I was between books and needed a good palate cleanser. It’s described on it’s website as,

A bold retelling of the ancient tale of defiance and justice, its poetry and images capture the anguish and despair of the original tale in an unembellished modernized rendition.

So I wasn’t sure if I should go back and reread Sophocles or just wing it. I hadn’t read Antigone since senior year of high school, and all I can remember of it is Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, incestuous king and queen of Thebes, and Antigone was imprisoned in a cave to death. But I cannot remember why she was imprisoned.

I decided to wing it because I’m lazy and figured if the poems were too confusing I could always stop and read the tragedy.  The good news is, you don’t have to revisit any Greek tragedies to enjoy this amazing volume of poetry. As far as Antigone goes, I think maybe she’s more of a general metaphor for woman.

The poems and drawings in this book were written and drawn in the 1970s, and every single bit of this book is just as readable and fresh as if it had been written 15 minutes ago. The writing in these poems is very sparse, simple, and yet so evocative. There were parts where I wasn’t sure if the woman in the poem was being raped, murdered, or having mind-blowing sex. The poems are very sensual, but also very vague allowing the reader to really react to it in the same way one would react to a piece of artwork; you make your own interpretation.

As soon as I finished reading the book (and let me add, the ending was so great.) I went back to the first page and read the whole thing again. No kidding, this book blew me away. I wish I was rich so I could buy EVERYONE I know this book.

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