KAREN HARTMAN WRITER
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TROY WOMEN

Andromache’s husband Hector, Prince of Troy, was just slain by the conquering Greeks. As Andromache is being carted away by Greek soldiers, holding her infant son, she addresses her mother-in-law Hecuba.
BUY SCript HerE

ANDROMACHE
 

Mother may I speak to you about collapse?

For Polyxena it’s like she was never born.
Maybe that comforts you.
In death there is no grief.  No loss.
While my life is a map of sadness.
 
I say without shame that I was an ambitious woman.
I wanted a high reputation.
I built one.
I watched it crack against the ground
fragile as a vase.
 
I have held myself to standards.
I have been beyond reproach.
 
They say a woman who walks will stray.
So I kept home.
Imagined the outside.
A person of position can command
even her own longing.
 
They say wit in a wife is a wayward sign.
So I spoke to myself.
I know how women become friends
swapping laughter and information.
It is addictive.
So I spoke to myself.
I am interesting.
My mind is a teacher.
 
They say the man is ruler
so he ruled.
 
They say talk in a woman is brass
so I was gold.
 
They say if you look at the sun you go blind
so I watched the floor for reflection.
 
And action during pregnancy causes disaster
so I lay with my feet up
waiting.
 
They say Andromache is a model wife.
They say Andromache is a lady.
They say now, I want Andromache.
 
The son of Achilles picked me from all the women
due to my reputation
which had of course spread to Greece.
A place I did not expect to see.
 
Mother.
They say something else.
 
A night of pleasure with one man
erases another.
There is a way to touch a woman so she forgets everything that went before
so she bucks against a face a hand a body
like a horse.
A mare if you switch her partner will refuse to bear the weight
and she is only a beast.
I hate women for this.
And I think about touch.
 
Hector, you were my everything.
Wise and beautiful, brave and rich.
I came to you a sealed box.
You unlocked me.
Now, in Greece,
I will fail you whatever I do.
 
Do you see why I call Polyxena lucky?
 
Hope is old candy.
I can’t eat it anymore.

​
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HARTMAN
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​Redesign by Jocelyn Kuritsky.
​Copyright © 2021-2022  Karen Hartman, All Rights Reserved.
Photos of Hartman by Lou Daprile.