I.
“I will face God and walk backwards into Hell if you don’t love me.”
Do it. Do it and tell me how it goes.
II.
Tell me, what was it like
to roll the boulder with Sisyphus?
Did your feet bleed onto the rocky ground?
Did your fingers ache?
Did you choke on the dust?
Tell me, what was it like
to stand with Tantalus?
Did your parched tongue swell with thirst?
Did you cry out for mercy?
Tell me, what was it like
to stand in the Field of Souls?
Did you stand alone among the gangrenous bodies?
Did they brush against you?
Did your tears emerge as ash?
III.
Persephone smiled at me,
descending into Hell.
Or maybe she was screaming.
I cannot tell you if she was grinning
or wearing her face; a grotesque, twisted mask.
I was deaf.
Here were the things I could see:
his hand, wrapped around her waist,
his lips pressed to her cheek, breathing in
the sweet flowery scent
like honey.
IV.
The cut on my palm stung
like a hornet nesting in the sweat of my back.
Soft jazz music played across the room.
Anything and everything louder than that half-broken speaker:
your roommate tapping at the door
the bedsprings
traffic outside the window
us.
It stung -- I didn’t mind.
You held me -- I didn’t mind.
I forgot to love you -- I hope you didn’t mind.
V.
The Greek legends did not prepare me--
their myths fell short of this life.
When it was your hand on my waist,
your lips against my cheek,
there was nothing in the air
but the liquor on your breath.
My palm was still stinging.
VI.
On Saturdays,
You drank like Sisyphus,
Thirsty.
On Mondays,
I was the boulder you pushed up the hill,
Heavier with each roll.
And always,
When I pressed my hand against your skin,
It came away stinging.
VII.
Persephone,
Were you afraid?
Why did you go with a smile?
What was it like to see the light fade
When Hell engulfed you?
VIII.
I too will look God in the eye
with my palm stinging.
But I will beg for mercy,
with your hand wrapped tight around my waist.
And you will walk backwards into Hell
clutching me.
Katie Krantz is a student and early career writer from Atlanta, Georgia. She is a graduate of the Alpha Young Writer's Workshop for Genre Fiction (2017) and of the Kenyon Review Young Writers Workshop (2017). She has had paid publications in speculative fiction and short YA, including Ricky's Backyard’s special Valentine's issue with 'Floidoip' (2016), 'I Tried' (2017) at The Passed Note, 'My Hand' (2018) at Hello Horror, and 'Burn the Witch' (2015) and 'A Pleasant Sunday Run' (2016) at Metamorphose. 'Burn the Witch' was their most popular story of 2015, and she won their author of the year award.
