Michelle Szobody
OPHELIA:
Th’ expectation and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
Th’ observ’d of all observers, quite, quite down!
HAMLET:
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker.
Like sweetbriar, I blush
and ramble against the garden walls.
Like bindweed, I arc up
in a childish fret of throats.
My character requires
gardeners with secateurs,
corsets, combs and rakes, trellises,
and sprays of eau-de-lace.
They say my mother named me:
Ophelia, from the Greek for Help;
the midwife heaved me out
before she died.
And I have always wondered
if Mother knew I would be wayward,
or was my name
just the ebb of blood leaving her mouth?
Michelle Szobody is a British-American poet, translator, and researcher. Her poetry has been published in bath magg, anthologised by Propel, and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. Her children’s adaptation of Beowulf won an IPPY award in the US.
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