longing for persephone by S.M. Foran

the perennial

sorrow of demeter

is marked each year

by the dogmatic death

of the garden.

what goes un-

seen, how-

ever, is the

bowing crown of hades,

proud chin pressed tightly

against the black-robed chest,

and noticed only by

the few attendant shades

who gather round

and fear

lest the rustling breath

of their steps

somehow disturb his reverie

and dispel

the lingering scent

of honey-sweet

pomegranate.

Bio

S.M. Foran has a Master of Arts in English and a Ph.D. in Mythological Studies and has been teaching literature and creative writing for almost thirty years. He currently works at Montreat College in North Carolina and lives in Asheville with his wife and two sons. He has had poems and short stories appear in a wide variety of literary publications, including Arboreal Literary Magazine, Euphony Journal, Metonym, Between, and Portfolio North, and is also the author of a collection of short stories, Bite of the Bacchae and Other Stories, and a collection of poems, recently wise. His most recent publication is a poetry chapbook entitled a reader's miscellany (Bottlecap Press, 2024).

Author's note

This poem is part of a new collection I am working on that centers on the underworld as portrayed in various world mythologies. With "longing for persephone," I chose to consider the story from a new perspective. Traditionally, the focus is on Demeter's sorrow at losing her daughter. Without denying the impact of this loss, I wanted to explore how separation from Persephone might conversely affect her husband Hades.