Imagine the mythical Zeus, God of the Sky and Rain, King of all gods, with great military prowess and power. A power-hungry, narcissistic male from a long line of the same breed. His better decisions praised, his poor decisions unquestioned. Now, imagine Zeus as a woman. Women have fought hard to be in positions of power on the grand stage of the world. Still, seldom do we see a woman in a position of power where she is second to none, her ability never questioned and her word, absolute. This is a journey into Zeus, the queen of gods, her liaisons with male consorts and the many decisions she makes that mold Olympus for better or worst. In this tale Zeus’ father Cronus and his grandfather Ouranos are now mother and grandmother.
Zeus: You there, halt!
Alcmene stumbles as he turns.
Yes, your Grace…
Zeus: I’m sure I need no introduction, for I am Zeus Goddess of all Gods! Mother of the great Ares, Athena, Dionysus, Hermes, Persephone, The Graces, The Muses, ALL worship worthy offspring. Daughter of Chronos and Rhea. I am an insatiable lover. My affairs have been the stuff of legend. You may have heard of Hera, Themis, Metis, Leto … to continue would be rude of me-
Alcmene sighs
Zeus: But I will anyway. I have even been called “supreme queen mother of all gods and goddesses”, “goddess of lightning and thunder”, “Queen of Olympus”, and many more titles. Despite your mortality you shall be my next conquest.
Alcmene: Ah, but-
Zeus: Here’s the deal: First you’ll brush my curls until the platinum tendrils shine, like the very marble of Mount Olympus. My lush hips and ample bosom will welcome you until you begin to bore me with talk of poverty, illness, and livestock as you mortals always do. I will never understand why your kind keeps food as pets. Just so you know, my displeasure will be signaled by thunder and lightning raining down upon your village.
Alcmene: Uhm, Goddess I’m not sure-
Zeus: Now that's settled! Let us go before Hera arrives.
Hera: Zeus, I have tolerated all of your affairs but this I cannot tolerate. It is beneath you to fornicate with mortals, much less carry mortal offspring!
Zeus: My handsome and strong Hera! Can’t you see it matters not who I dally with? For I am Zeus! Furthermore, you are letting your self- righteous, jealousy cloud your view. The more demi-divine offspring, the more beings who are beneath us yet still, powerful enough to carry out my will.
Hera: I beg your pardon?!
Zeus: At least the demi-divine offspring are not as wild and willful as the children you sired upon me. It is as though they live to displease me, their Mother! Ares is always fighting me and my decisions. Eris is always putting a damper on my plans. Oh and don’t get me started on Hephaestus. How is it that you managed to impregnate me with the only ugly God!?
Hera: What do you expect! Ares is the god of war and Eris is the goddess of strife! And you know Hephaestus is a sensitive matter!
Zeus: Yes, yes… however my demi-divine children are far more grateful, they thank me for even creating them! As they should, seeing as I am Zeus.
Hera: I concede they are useful, but name one thing they do that our godly children do not.
Zeus: Well, my mortal children often proclaim parental love for me. Take my beautiful Helen of Troy, who I must say, takes after me. She often prays to me. My precious sons Grocecus, Amphion, and Zethus have founded mortal cities and villages to further ensure my worship. Perseus handles monsters that I do not have time to deal with. Oh, and don’t get me started on Heracles for even you secretly love him.
Hera: May I speak?!
Zeus: Athena! My favorite and wisest child, your mother needs your help.
Athena: Yes mother. Shall we discuss the marriage of Aphrodite? Or how the Furies haven’t been punishing the oath-breakers.
Zeus: No, those matters can wait. More like the Prometheus problem…
Athena: Hmmm…
Zeus: Don’t give me that look!
Athena: If it makes you uncomfortable then you know you’re wrong.
Zeus: Let’s not use the word “wrong” so loosely. Things just didn’t go as planned. Pandora was supposed to bring about mankind’s destruction instead she brought them closer to us gods. Hope was to make them complacent in their suffering, instead they hope for the understanding of the gods.
Athena: You of all people should know that interfering with fate only serves to quicken the prophecy.
Zeus: Yes, but, you try to remain calm when it’s prophesized that “one day one of your demi-divine daughters will rise up to slay you like you did your mother”!
Athena: While I do sympathize mother, the situation has only been further exacerbated by your blatant infidelity.
Zeus: I see… So, what your saying is if I have a divine child with Prometheus then, perhaps that offspring will do what Prometheus will not and tell me the name of the demi child who will slay me, so I might slay her first.
Athena: No mother that is the exact opposite of what I’m saying.
Zeus: Well. It is what I Zeus Goddess of the Sky, Rain, and all Gods and goddesses intend to do!
Athena: I. just. can’t. with you…
Homegrown is a poetic journey through my experience as a homeschooled child. Each poem displays the emotional fast track unbridled educational freedom has put me on. It has come with great joy and pain.
Although I attend supplemental classes to interact with my peers, it is tiring to constantly seek others out. Reminding people I exist. Up selling myself, and imparting the importance of networking to teenagers, who only care to interact with those more familiar. As a person who spends a lot of time alone, the ritual of sitting down to have my hands pampered and painted, as I relay the new or old happenings of my life, is a rare treat.
Last summer I enrolled in the New York Times summer academy. I felt like I had a year of the high school experience in those two weeks. I even asked a boy out. I wanted a summer flirtationship to prove I could have one. But, like a cheesy rom-com, the exact opposite of what everyone expected happened, I was rejected.
To compound the extremely left turn of events my pampering session/ manicure went horribly awry.
More so a deflection
An interaction of which he probably has no recollection
Something that I loathed with the greatest conviction
It irked my very soul
Explained but still inexplicable
My anger lit more of a passion in me than the prospect of I and he
My first rejection
Made me look at my reflection
I saw nothing but perfection
I still don’t understand
I am grateful for the graceful bow
Teenagers. Boys.
I’m sure he was just cowed
Curtain call
Roll call
I’ll find a new male lead
Someone to fill the role until I reach the Apollo
A new script for a new age
My rejection, fodder, fuel for the engine of my brain
Spurring me to write a new page
He simply wasn’t for this stage
I now have very little recollection
My lack of recall, a reflection of our petty connection
Alas, no summer flirtation,
Yet still, I’m glad
What wasn’t meant to be never came to fruition,
My first Rejection
A betrayal,
what I thought was set in stone was me being sentimental,
Is she mental?
A true travesty,
Trivial to others
To me
A vile violation,
I questioned if anyone, besides the people related to me, loved me
How could she let me walk out with that mediocrity?
She had done a good job for everyone but me
She had blessed my hands before
Imbued my finger tips with unworldly power
With this last service she brought me back to Earth
Just another surf
Crooked, uneven, and lumpy
Is that how she perceived me?
She took my inspiration
My perfect carefully grown canvas and turned it into something so unsightly
INCONGRUOUS
Reflecting a version of me I never thought to meet
Familiar with the version adults looked at like I was weaving destiny before their eyes
Like I had hung stars for miles and miles
The me that walked as if every stride lit an Aurora in the night sky
Authentically Jayli
A sensible, sociable being
My peers wanted no parts
No matter the approach
Aloof... eager... demure
It seemed to other teens everyone else was a better option than me
So I escaped to a place where people share their stories and live unrealistic dreams
I reveled in an abundance of hilarious memes
Watering the seeds of acquaintance
Likes and comments fertilizer
INSTAGRAM
Only to find myself blocked
@Hana_R
I guess it had been too long since we’d talked
Or was one liked post “Doing the most” ?
Maneuvering life’s manacles
My manicures have been a constant
A manifesto of my state of mind
Lasting only for a time
Glittering across my keyboard
Born again with a new storyboard
Gems that are always with me
Shining brightly while we try to make a masterpiece
Only to have a perverse version thrust upon me
How can I develop my thesis, my magnum opus
Without the necessary adornment of my corpus unguis?
A knight’s sword honed by the blacksmith
A manicurist for this wordsmith
The buffing of my intellectual brass knuckles
Not one to shy from a challenge
Scheduled my next appointment
Until then bare knuckled fisticuffs
IPAD, pen, papyrus