Set by Kathleen Calby

Set kills and dismembers his brother Osiris for
sleeping with Nephthys his wife. He was the god of
chaos, storms and violence.

Shade of gleaming Osiris. Does anyone condemn

me for my jealousy or just the act? I was made the god

of evil and noir—the darkness all know but can’t

or won’t voice—the trap just over there or maybe

more obvious than that. Yes, I thought myself as good

as he was. Then, he took my wife to bed. My pride

any more than Lucifer’s? To be a god’s equal, then eternally

not. And make his gloss seem even brighter? What hell

this reign of serial killers, tyrants, pedophiles, husband

brutes? Why not be named god of war? Battlefield

slaying sharp as any other. Heroic glamor? Some

myth there to unearth. Shrieks, guts gushing from

open bellies, heads blown off. What of my knife play?

Any worse? All the pieces found but one, anyway.

Bio

Kathleen Calby lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains and hosts bi-weekly writer events for the North Carolina Writers Network. A Rash Poetry Award Finalist in 2022, she published her chapbook Flirting with Owls with Kelsay Books in 2023. Her poems appear in Connecticut Review, Slippery Elm Literary Journal, and New Plains Review, and other journals.

Author's note

A journey I took to Egypt had a profound effect on me, and I’m working on a full-length poetry manuscript that includes the gods, temples, pyramids and my experiences. Growing up in the Catholic tradition, its iconography and stories were very familiar. As a teenager, I discovered Greek and Roman mythology. So I was thrilled to learn the Egyptian pantheon, and I want to make it more widely known.

Set is generally demonized because he kills his brother, the golden boy Osiris. (Sound like Cain and Abel?) But I wanted to take his perspective. He does get carried away in the slaying—chopping Osiris into pieces and hiding them. However, Nepthys feels widow Isis’s grief and helps her find the pieces and assemble them. As a result, Osiris rises from the dead (and doesn’t take revenge on anyone).