historically
his prophecies are never false
Kreon:
I know
I’m shaking
Chorus:
take advice
Kreon:
tell me
Chorus:
set the girl free
Kreon:
you mean
Chorus:
quick quick quick
Kreon:
it hurts
Chorus:
quick quick quick
Kreon:
I go
[exit Kreon]
Chorus:
another
an hour
an hour and a half
a year
a split second
a decade
this instant
a second
a split second
a now
a nick
a neck
Kreon rushes out
all the guards rush out
hang by the neck until:
here we are
in a song about joy
here we are in a day about dust
the dust it takes to house enemies
the house it takes to dust justice
the justice it takes to dodge a bullet
the bullet it takes to justify lovers
the love in which to delete your own darling
the darling you dust
the dust you disperse
the you who does not
does not what
does not
nick
here we are we're all fine
we’re standing in
the nick of time
[enter Messenger]
Messenger:
O people
there is no stanza of human life that
I would praise or blame
luck sends your powerboat up or
down the waves at any given moment
no seer can see what’s next
Kreon (I thought) was an enviable man
for he saved this land of Kadmos
he got his hands on monarchy
he sailed it straight and furrows of children flourished around him
now all that’s gone
when joy betrays you
I do not count your life alive
a corpse is more alive
be as rich as you like be absolute
if your joy goes
I wouldn’t buy you for a shadow of smoke
Chorus:
you’re the Messenger
what’s your message
Messenger:
they’re dead
Chorus:
who’s dead
Messenger:
Haimon’s dead
Chorus:
by whose hand
Messenger:
a hand very like his own
Chorus:
okay Teiresias, point match game
Messenger:
game’s not over
Chorus:
you’re right
here’s Eurydike wife of Kreon
what’s she up to
[enter Eurydike]
Eurydike:
this is Eurydike’s monlogue
it’s her only speech in the play
you may not know who she is
that’s okay
like poor Mrs. Ramsay
who died in a bracket
of To the Lighthouse
she’s the wife of the man
whose moods tensify
the world of this story
the world sundered by her
I say sundered by her
that girl with the undead
strapped to her back
a state of exception
marks the limit of the law
this violent thing
this fragile thing
try to unclench
we said to her
she never did
we got her the bike
we got a therapist
that poor sad man
with his odd ideas
some days he made us
sit on the staircase
all on different steps
or videotaped us
but when we watched it
was nothing but shadows
finally we expelled her we had to
using the logic of friend and foe
that she denies
but how can she deny
the rule to which she is an exception
is she autoimmune
no she is not
have you heard this expression
the nick of time
what is a nick
I asked my son
what is a nick
I asked my son
when the Messenger comes
I set him straight
I tell him nobody’s missing
we’re all here
we’re all fine
why do you Messengers always
exaggerate
exit Eurydike bleeding from all orifices
[Eurydike does not exit]
Messenger:
O beloved queen
I wish I could say I did not see
what was left of Polyneikes
the dogtorn parts
the parts lying
the parts gathered
the parts burned on a sacred pile I wish
I could say
I did not see
the stones shrieking
the girl hanging
the boy a bloody lung
the father on his knees
the bolt leaving the wall
the sword sinking up to its own mouth
O my queen
I did not see
Death marry them at last
oh so shyly
but I did
I did see it
exit Eurydike
Chorus:
exit Eurydike
Eurydike:
exit Eurydike
[exit Eurydike]
Messenger:
too big a silence
[exit Messenger]
FINAL EPISODE 1257–1353
Chorus:
here comes Kreon
dragging his
dragging his
dragging his what
[enter Kreon with body of Haimon]
Kreon:
here is my crime it was
my hard killing mind it was
my deadly goings wrong O
my child
too soon dead O
this sacrilege that I called public policy it was
my child
assassinated
by my folly
Chorus:
you’re late
to learn
what’s what
aren’t you
Kreon:
late to learn O yes I am
late too late O then O then
some god slammed down on me
a heavy weight
some god shook me out on those raw roads
alas for the joy of my life that I’ve trampled underfoot
alas for us all going dark
[enter Messenger]
Messenger:
okay Kreon
widen your eyes
Kreon:
what now
what worse
Messenger:
Eurydike is dead
E
urydike is dead
Kreon:
O filth of Death
who can clean you out
O laugh of Death
you crack me
you crack me open
you crack me open again
here comes Kill
Kreon’s verb for today
now he is perfectly blended with pain
Messenger:
Eurydike cursed you
your wife cursed you
assassin of your own child she said
and she undid her eyes to the dark
Kreon:
yes yes of course
of course she did
Messenger:
she blamed you
Kreon:
and then
Messenger:
stabbed herself in the liver
Kreon:
yes yes she did
of course in the liver
yes I am to blame
take Kreon away
he no more exists than someone who does not exist
Chorus:
briefest is best
when evil is all around
Kreon:
I want Kreon’s death
Chorus:
that’s the future this is the present
you deal with the present
Kreon:
to die is my only prayer
Chorus:
then don’t pray at all
you don’t get to run this
Kreon:
take Kreon away please take Kreon away
where can I look
where can I turn
everything I touch goes wrong
an unbearable fate has loaded itself onto my head
Chorus:
last word
wisdom: better get some
even too late
[exeunt omnes except Nick who continues measuring]
Copyright © 2012, 2015 by Anne Carson
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First published clothbound by New Directions in 2012
First published as a New Directions Paperbook (ndp1322) in 2015
Design by Erik Rieselbach
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Sophocles, author.
[Antigone. English]
Antigonick / Sophokles ; translated by Anne Carson.
ISBN 978-0-8112-2292-1
ISBN 978-0-8112-2293-8 (e-book)
I. Carson, Anne, 1950– II. Title.
PA4414.A7C37 2015
882'.01—dc23 2014046878
New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation
80 Eighth Avenue, New York 10011
Anne Carson, Antigonick
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