Mythwaking - Homeric Hymns: A Modern Sequel by V. B. Price

"The metaphoric usefulness of the gods of the ancient Greeks may have slipped into academic backwaters and genteel obscurity, but it's never been extinguished," V. B. Price writes. "The gods seem preposterously wonderful, a happy if troubling mixture of boundless power reveling in boundless folly."

In this poetic reimagining of the Homeric Hymns, Price draws the timeless light and endless foibles of the Greek myths into the twenty-first century. The gods (from Hermes to Aphrodite, Hera to Zeus, Hades to Athena) open themselves to new examination and exploration in order to speak to us anew, just as they always have.

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Praise for Mythwaking - Homeric Hymns: A Modern Sequel

“V. B. Price’s hymns awaken the ancient and eternal gods, named by the Greeks but speaking as directly to us now as ever. Far from the archaic confections of classic mythology, these poems return us to our rightful place in the world where we learn again to trust what we can’t see, that ‘miracle’ of ‘wisdom beyond experience.’” —Craig Watson, author of Secret Histories

“In Mythwaking, V. B. Price gives the Greek gods enormous punch. Rather than simply reinvigorating myths, these poems embrace the complex energies of each god with insights at once intimate and universal. Price has unpacked the ancient stories and created warm-blooded characters who mirror our own essential fears and loves, our own attempts to live our lives fully and attentively. ‘When the body / of the cosmos / is what we love / then everything / is sacred.’ In this spirit of openness, Price portrays even the horrendous war god Ares with an entertaining grimness. But it is the poems of Price’s own most resonant gods—Hermes, Athena, Aphrodite—that I will most cherish. A great read.” —Mary Beath, author of Refuge of Whirling Light

“Several of V. B. Price’s poems in this collection wind themselves around the ancient god or goddess, then follow some vibrating thread to present circumstance. Other poems simply leap fresh and resonate from the poet’s consciousness, as if the very presence of the deity uncovered some new dimension of the psyche. Like the deities themselves, these poems both meander and radiate, discovering those edges where spiritual image illumines historical moment.” —David Johnson, co-editor of A Wind Blows Through Us