I.<\/p>\n
Nobody knows my name. We
\nare the ones left behind
\nWe wait<\/p>\n
We weave. We celebrate and grieve. Olive
\ntrees grow and bloom. Some years
\nthe ripe fruit falls and stains the stones<\/p>\n
We watch the waves. Spring
\nmakes orchards burst. In fall
\nunpicked fruit rots in rows<\/p>\n
II.<\/p>\n
The dust creeps in
\neverywhere, the sand
\nthere is no end of sweeping<\/p>\n
keeping outside out
\ninside in. There is no end
\nof polishing and guilty laughter<\/p>\n
Evenings bring a sort of sadness
\nmeals taken in private, whispered
\nconversations, abruptly hushed<\/p>\n
III.<\/p>\n
I was lonely then too
\nlonely as Penelope, lonely
\nas only a sister can be<\/p>\n
And though honor is in
\nmy name \u2014 value \u2014 I
\nam not the one<\/p>\n
they will sing about
\nhow I spent my days \u2014
\nno one noticed<\/p>\n
IV.<\/p>\n
When he returned \u2014 silly
\ndisguise, a goddess on his shoulder \u2014
\nto his patient wife<\/p>\n
the orderly castle
\npolished spears in a polished rack
\nas if it were all a dream . . .<\/p>\n
he did not ask to see me. Brother
\nKing, he took with him my husband \u2014
\nmother followed soon after<\/p>\n
I see them only
\nin glimpses of filtered light
\non the backs of waves<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Odysseus<\/em>\u2019 sister. Ctimene is mentioned only once in Homer\u2019<\/em>s <\/em>Odyssey, in a brief reference in Book XV. A much shorter, earlier version of this poem appeared in Cathexis Northwest Press in August 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I. Nobody knows my name. We are the ones left behind We wait We weave. We celebrate and grieve. Olive trees grow and bloom. Some years the ripe fruit falls and stains the stones We watch the waves. Spring makes orchards burst. In fall unpicked fruit rots in rows II. The dust creeps in everywhere, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2272,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[75],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6Jypy-ctimene","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18183"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18286,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18183\/revisions\/18286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Noah B. Salamon<\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"