Myth is on my mind. My partner and I recently tore through the first season of KAOS, a new Netflix series that plays fast and loose with classical Greek Mythology. In this retelling, Gods and humans live in a stylized world that somewhat resembles our own. Zeus, played to a tee by the ingenious Jeff Goldblum, lives in a gaudy mansion on Mount Olympus and wears velour tracksuits and gold-rimmed glasses. The series pings between fidelity and infidelity to the original storylines, and in doing so, foregrounds myths as always in the remaking, an iterative and intertextual process that reflects, refracts, and reimagines the stories that we tell ourselves about the world we inhabit—perhaps especially in moments like the one we are in now, when, for many, the world feels increasingly unreasonable, ludicrous, callous, and cruel. Cue the gods who personify these very qualities. Gods such as KAOS’ Zeus who use theatre and propaganda to divide and conquer (and in doing so say something about the fascism and demagoguery popping up everywhere, spreading like wildfire).
Enter Lisa Baird’s new chapbook Persephone’s Crickets, which caught my attention when I was browsing Baseline Press’s 2024 releases. I’m new to Baird’s work, and I will tell you straight up: it is a truly remarkable collection. One of the many things I love about the book is the short essay that accompanies the poems. It doesn’t oversteer or interpret the poems, but rather offers several interesting ways into the collection. Take, for example, the introductory question the essay poses: “What is lost when myths are yanked up by their roots and transplanted to different ecologies?” What follows is a smart and engaging account of how myths are, like Persephone herself, abducted from their homes and deployed in all sorts of ways that have much to tell us about the stories we tell ourselves, and the stories we repress and exclude. Fittingly, the poems in this collection offer us many Persephones (“as Earthquake” “as Bitch,” “as Garden”), each portrait an opening of story, a freeing of its hero. Baseline is known for its beautiful bookmaking, the care and precision put into each hand-stitched book. Persephone’s Crickets is no exception—and everything you see and feel, from the textured cover, ripped along the edge, to the deep red of the flyleaf, is reflected in the collection’s lyric beauty, the elegant toughness of the ideas that are so brilliantly packed into each line. I was really moved by this book. And, it was really fun to share it with my partner. We’ve been talking a lot about Persephone, and especially her crickets, who wait silently in the centre of the book.
— Tom Cull resides in London, Ontario, on the banks of Deshkan Ziibi. He works at the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, teaches creative writing at Western, and was London’s Poet Laureate from (2016-2018). Cull is the author of Bad Animals (Insomniac Press, 2018), and Kill Your Starlings (Gaspereau Press, 2023).
You can read Tom Cull's poem "Electrofishing" in Issue 302 Winter 2024. Order the issue now:
Order Issue 302 - Winter 2025 (Canadian Addresses)
Order Issue 302 - Winter 2025 (International Addresses)
