because I was told Spanish would be more useful
because it was not taught in public school
because the private school I transferred to did not teach it either
because in college I switched to French
because in order to understand Sappho I would have to read Homer
because no one can ever fully understand Sappho
because I would also have to learn Classical Latin as a matter of course
because when Catullus promised to show me a good time I wasn’t in the mood
because the rage of Achilles enraged me
because Achilles raped Briseis
because Apollo raped Cassandra
because Zeus raped Leda
because Hera and Athena and Aphrodite allowed this to happen
because it happened to the Trojan women and the Sabine women
because Dido should have known better than to sleep with the enemy
because Medea did know better and slept with one anyway
because the only way Daphne could escape Apollo was by turning into a tree
because Apollo was the god of poetry and song
because Artemis, goddess of virginity and protector of the forests, did not stop him
because Zeus just couldn’t keep it in his toga
because neither could Hades
because the list goes on
because the hardest thing to translate is a hope
because I wanted you, Sappho, but I was slow and unwilling to walk through fire for you, and what would I do if I reached out my hand to find only your shadow vanishing into the smoke?
link to video
Samantha Pious is a poet, translator, editor, and medievalist with a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of a poetry collection, Sappho Is Dead (Headmistress Press 2024); the translator of a selection of poems by Renée Vivien, available as A Crown of Violets (2017); and the translator of a selection of poems by Judith Teixeira, forthcoming as Cactus Flowers (2025). Her translation of Christine de Pizan’s One Hundred Ballades of a Lover and His Lady is also forthcoming.
Samantha Pious is a poet, translator, editor, and medievalist with a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of a poetry collection, Sappho Is Dead (Headmistress Press 2024); the translator of a selection of poems by Renée Vivien, available as A Crown of Violets (2017); and the translator of a selection of poems by Judith Teixeira, forthcoming as Cactus Flowers (2025). Her translation of Christine de Pizan’s One Hundred Ballades of a Lover and His Lady is also forthcoming.
