Southern Sophocles
Haemon
pick up your memory. steady hearts, a little while
Ennis, Orville, Willie singing our sermons and songs
Strait on, straight raised
regret and pastimes forsake kisses
shame, pearls, rosary. mama’s blame.
prejudice, have you broken our love?
love. is love simply this? lies in their truth?
Creon
state your sickened purpose and abomination.
filth to you! read leviticus close libraries
hate to have to hold you.
ignorance—this own doom.
hell in me, cast light. this faith failed you.
man foreshadowed this end—now anyone can see you.
codes and laws of mess. my fire, my office desk.
me with mess don’t mess my Texas
Polynices
hope lost on me saved you
name your pains. what wounds? burdened by hurt
asking me to listen, but you cannot.
dimmed are days. now, look well and
reflect. I look through you. shattered mirrors.
face? to face a life without self
fear brings this body to flame
dreams allow yourself to be forgiven and forgive.
you forget—to want never changed everything
Ismene
brother—the mourned, and sister—the buried.
remember youth, the lavender days
sideways winds comb honey-like blonde hair blowing wild
melt still memories in our photos, frozen in time
truth in herself becoming new, becoming someone just?
all for justice and hope.
you left. we had lost you.
Haemon
dear father. father’s fear. nothing to see here, dear.
windows without one to see can house no fears, my love.
thorns rose from injured humanity
prickly pear cactus. thorns of pairs in pricks
healed alone, time somehow shows repentance.
Creon
appearance disavows, my darling.
here spilled alleged, an ‘innocent of blood’
flowing river, red in peace.
longing ever, for now you part.
Antigone
while little, a heart’s steady memory. your pickup.
songs and sermons our singing Willie, Orville, Ennis
raised straight on Strait
kisses’ sake, for times past and regret
blame mama’s rosary, pearls shame.
love our broken. you have prejudice.
truth therein lies this simply: love is love.
Antigone
‘abomination’ and purpose sickened your state.
libraries close. leviticus read you to filth.
you hold. to have, to hate.
doom, own this ignorance
you failed faith. this light cast me in hell.
you see? can anyone now end this shadowed foreman?
desk office. my fire, my mess of laws and codes
Texas, my mess. don’t mess with me.
Antigone
you saved me on lost hope
hurt by burdened wounds. what pains your name?
cannot you but listen to me asking?
and well, look now. days are dimmed.
mirrors shattered you through look. I reflect.
self without life. a face to face
flame to body, this brings fear.
forgive and forgiven. be to yourself. allow dreams.
everything changed. never want to forget you
Antigone
buried the sister and mourned the brother.
days lavender, the youth remember
wild blowing hair blonde like honeycomb winds sideways
time in frozen photos our memories still melt
just someone becoming new. becoming herself in truth.
hope…and justice for all?
you lost, had we left you?
Eurydice
dear, here. see to nothing. fear father’s father, dear.
love my fears. no house can see to one without windows.
humanity injured from rose thorns
pricks in pairs of thorns. cactus pear prickly.
repentance shows how some time alone healed.
Eurydice
darling, my vow’s a disappearance
blood of innocent, an alleged spilled here
peace in red river flowing
part you now, forever longing.
ARTIST STATEMENT
the series is a collection of reverse poems based on Sophocles’ Antigone. each stanza follows a call and response format (read left to right). this conversation-style form allows me to provide insight into their reactions, thoughts, and relationships with references to southern LGBTQ+ pop culture—Ennis Del Mar, Orville Peck, and Willie Nelson. this poem weaves themes of love, hate, and the power of acceptance in the face of fear to share the story of transphobia and homophobia in the american south.