In the Ancient Greek epic poem “The Odyssey,” Odysseus’ men strap him to the mast of the ship so he could hear the sirens’ song without being enticed and lured into a watery grave.
Women’s voices are often portrayed through the lenses (or ears) of men. The sirens were not human women, but it still begs the question: What does “The Odyssey” say about women? And what lies beneath the surface?
Michele Evans, 52, of Haymarket, poses such questions to her English students at Broad Run High School in Loudoun County, where she also teaches creative writing and advises the school’s literary magazine.
For years, Evans taught “The Odyssey” the traditional way. Odysseus, the hero – a warrior, king and husband – is homebound on an epic journey. His challenges are fierce, amusing and rife for interpretation.
However, repeated readings led Evans to delve deeper and explore the feminine voices and elements in the epic. That invocation launched her own odyssey to find her poetic voice.
Evans first poetic anthology “Purl,” will be released Feb. 14. “Purl” re-examines the female archetypes in “The Odyssey,” juxtaposing their trials and tribulations with those of contemporary women.
“The poems are all voices of women or feminine figures from ‘The Odyssey,’” said Evans. She drew upon “the obstacles and life experiences that these figures had in the poem, but women today still have.”
Evans is a fifth-generation Washingtonian whose family moved to Fairfax County. Studying Latin in high school ignited her life-long interest in the classics.
“I think just being exposed to Greek mythology, epic poems and the classics was a seed being sowed. I didn’t realize all these years teaching English that this is where it would resurface,” she said.
Evans attended Smith College in Massachusetts, Kings College in London and the University of Maryland for graduate school. She returned to Northern Virginia and became an educator. She married, started a family and moved to Haymarket in 2001.
Every year, Evans wrote one poem for African American history month but poured most of her energy into teaching and parenting. Then in the summer of 2015, she participated in a creative writing program for educators at George Mason University that helped her reconnect with writing.
“It’s the spark that led me to focus more on my writing,” she said.
In 2020, Evans was in the midst of teaching “The Odyssey” when everything shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving thoughts from “The Odyssey” circling in her mind. So, she took to her computer and poems poured out.
It was her “Covid baby,” she jokes, 49 poems that swirled together the ancient and mythological with the blunt and modern, often turbulently, like water crashing against jagged rocks.
Her characters navigate all too real experiences of love, loss, motherhood, naivety, fear, loneliness, mortality, regret, fear – and even threats of violence and political upheaval. All proved to be universal.
“There were events that were happening in our world that remind me of something that I read or taught,” Evans said. “What binds [the collection] is the resiliency of women when faced with obstacles. I'm amplifying their experiences, their voices.”
She also infused them with her personal and cultural experiences.
“As a Black woman, you would think there were not a lot of life experiences that are similar from this Ancient Greek period, but when you strip it down, you realize not a lot has changed. We have more in common that we realize,” she said.
Evans combined stories belonging to herself and others.
“I have a lot that I want to say, but I’m not always comfortable saying it. I’m deflecting. My poetry is like the other Michele. I won’t say it aloud, but I’ll write about it,” she said. “I’m a pretty private person so I like to think I’m sharing a little about me with my poetry.”
When she chose the name “Purl,” she had a personal heroine in mind: African-American poet Phyllis Wheatley Peters. Her maiden name is Peters, so Evans always felt close to Wheatley.
The word “purl” appears in Wheatley’s “A Hymn to the Evening”:
Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes, And through the air their mingled music floats. Through all the heav'ns what beauteous dies are spread! But the west glories in the deepest red.
Purl means "to flow in a circular current,” or make a “murmuring sound,” reminiscent of the whirlpool in Odyssey’s rocky voyage. It also means threading the needle through the front of a stitch, alluding to Queen Penelope’s loom. Finally, it evokes the feminine imagery of a pearl.
Evans uses similarly evocative imagery throughout her book.
“If I couldn’t be a writer I would want to be an artist,” she said. “I am envious of those who have those gifts to create visual images with their hands and eyes. I try to do this with writing. I try to create an image that will pop up in the reader’s mind. Sometimes you don’t need words to tell a story, you can tell it with images,”
Evans' son Harrison, a tattoo artist, illustrated the book’s cover. It includes elements from “The Odyssey,” but the woman on the cover is depicted with Greek and African features. Evans chose black and blue because those are her signature colors.
But before “Purl” became a collection, Evans submitted her poems in contests and for publication in journals. She soon learned that authorship required marketing.
Learning about the industry allowed her to prepare her students. “We learn together. I had them write their author bios,” she said, noting her bio was scant at the time.
Since 2022, Evans has been published multiple times, including in "Artemis Journal,” “The Yellow Arrow Journal,” “Spoken Black Girl Magazine,” and online in “The Mid Atlantic Review.”
Additionally, her poem "Anticlea" won first place in the 2023 ASP (Alan Squire Publishing) Bulletin poetry contest.
“The judges ended up being two of the people who wrote blurbs for ‘Purl,’” Evans said. She is now under contract with Finishing Line Press.
Evans describes herself as an “emerging poet,” who has, through these ancient women, found her voice. Her latest challenge is finding her spoken word voice, as she begins reading aloud before audiences.
Evans recently held a practice reading for family and friends at her mother’s house in Dominion Valley. She is excited to have been selected as a featured poet at Busboys and Poets, a Washington bookstore, restaurant and cultural hub.
For Evans, perceiving herself not only as a teacher, wife or mother but also as a writer feels like a homecoming.
“Literature and poetry have been a part of my life as long as I could read and write,” said Evans. “[I have been writing since] I could hold a crayon.”
Stacy Shaw is the editor of Haymarket-Gainesville Lifestyle Magazine and publisher/owner of BristowBeat.com. She taught English and creative writing at Prince William County’s Fine and Performing Arts School from 2006-2010.
Originally published by HAYMARKET GAINESVILLE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE, an affiliate of INSIDENOVA. All rights reserved. See more from HGLM.
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