ANNA JACKSON
Tell me about it
‘If I was really going to be radical I would’ve said, polytropos means “straying,” and andra’ — “man,” the poem’s first word — ‘means “husband,” because in fact andra does also mean “husband,” and I could’ve said, “Tell me about a straying husband.”‘
—Emily Wilson, first woman translator of The Odyssey
‘I’ve watched every episode of Poirot and Midsomer Murders on TV. I never guess the ending and I can’t wait for the moment when the detective gathers all the suspects in the room…’
—Anthony Horowitz, author of Magpie Murders
Tell me about a straying husband
the many islands
so hard to leave, storms etc
and tell me about the steadfast wife
the weaving etc
so much in the way of etc
basically, the whole history one big etc
but so moving
the dog, etc
at the end, the return—
all of it, terrible
but worth it for the return
and the justice of it all
some kind of detective must be looking over it all
there is right and there is wrong
to be winkled out with crafty single-mindedness
all those many turns heading towards
the single return
the return to justice
the great house
who could have been surprised really
whoever did it
they all did it
dozens oh dozens of suitors
dozens oh dozens of girls
where could they go
no islands for them
except in their heads, where they lived
unweaving over and over
over and over in their heads