“Epic II”
by Anaïs Mitchell, from Hadestown (2019)

[ORPHEUS]
King of silver, king of gold
And everything glittering under the ground
Hades is king of oil and coal
And the riches that flow where those rivers are found
But for half of the year with Persephone gone
His loneliness moves in him, crude and black
He thinks of his wife in the arms of the sun
And jealousy fuels him and feeds him and fills him
With doubt that she’ll ever come
Dread that she’ll never come
Doubt that his lover will ever come back

King of mortar, king of bricks
The River Styx is a river of stones
And Hades lays them high and thick
With a million hands that are not his own
With a million hands, he builds a wall
Around all of the riches he digs from the earth
The pickaxe flashes, the hammer falls
And crashing and pounding
His rivers surround him
And drown out the sound of the song he once heard
La-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la

In Search of Poetry
by Brian Bilston

why is poetry so boring
why is poetry hard to understand
why is poetry considered non-fiction
is poetry a good clothing brand

poetry is an act of hope
poetry is a waste of time
poetry is a way of taking life by the throat
poetry is not supposed to rhyme

why is poetry important
why does poetry exist
why is poetry pretentious
who is the better poet shakespeare or taylor swift

poetry is a political act
poetry is an egg with a horse inside
poetry is the best words in the best order
poetry is the mother of lies

why do poets repeat lines
do poems have to follow rules
why do poets repeat lines
why is poetry taught in school

poetry helps mental health
poetry is not real
poetry is the music of the soul
poetry makes you feel

(2024)