Nick Berger, Untitled, 2018. Courtesy of the artist.
Antigone’s Desire
by Jennifer Franklin
I’m not greedy. I will go
when I’m led from the city
to stone. I don’t want glory.
They have never understood
me. It’s not a death wish
that made me tend to you—
beloved, even when I knew nothing
could be done. I couldn’t let go
of your smile, our legs side by side
while we slept. Those flowers you
lined up in the soil after I picked
them—how you wouldn’t accept
they were dead. That replanting them
would not allow them to bloom.
Published December 1, 2019
Jennifer Franklin (AB Brown University, MFA Columbia University School of the Arts) is the author of two full collections, most recently *No Small Gift *(Four Way Books, 2018). Her poetry has been published widely in print and online including Blackbird, Boston Review, New England Review, Gettysburg Review, Guernica, JAMA, Love's Executive Order, The Nation, Paris Review, Plume, “poem-a-day” on poets.org, Prairie Schooner, and Sixth Finch. She teaches poetry manuscript revision and compilation at the Hudson Valley Writers Center, where she runs the reading series and serves as Program Director. She lives in New York City. Find her @JFranklinPoetry and www.jenniferfranklinpoet.com.
Nick Berger is an artist and musician based in Philadelphia. Their tattoo work can be found on Instagram under @nicholas.jean.berger and their music can be found at paper-bee.bandcamp.com.