Meridith Gresher’s Comments

“History has been in the hands of men for millennia; that is why there are so many lies.”
—James Robert Gresher (my wonderful godfather)

The Helen poems in FRiGG come from a book of poems I am writing about Helen of Troy. I started after I watched an episode of Ancient Mysteries with Leonard Nimoy, about the lost city of Troy. Afterward, I struggled to recall what I knew of Helen from a long ago reading of Homer. I came up with: Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world and the cause of a terrible war. Which is to say, I knew nothing. My interest was piqued.

It may be worth noting that Sappho, a woman, also wrote about Helen. I agree with her assessment that Helen must have left with Paris willingly. How would a woman reconcile leaving her children for a man? And how would Helen react to Homer’s accounting of her life? He put the blame for the war solely on her shoulders. I kept asking myself, “What other truths might there be to tell?”

The book addresses the in-between spaces, the lies of omission, the “errors” about Helen’s life, then expands, weaving a story that moves backward and forward between the Helen of circa 1250 B.C. and a modern Helen visiting the 21st century. The narrator, my version of a Greek chorus, is featured prominently in the work, blurring the line between Helen and herself. Unlike in the Iliad, this Helen can and does speak for herself.

If you would like more information on the Helen poems, or wish to inquire about publishing the work, you may reach me at meridithgresher@yahoo.com.