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Vanessa Place

Clytemnestra says


Clytemnestra

Has said things to suit the needs of the moment,
And is not ashamed to contradict them.
Says do not feel shame at the criticism of mortals.
What concern of yours could that possibly be?
May all come right, and not ambiguously.
I know my place. It seems better than kingship to me.
You see, all this is just as I chose it would be.
Medea

Said I have far different views from the majority.
Often before now my reputation has done me great harm.
If you bring novel wisdom to fools, you will be regarded as useless.
Since I am clever, some regard me with ill will,
Others find me retiring, others the opposite,
Others an obstacle.
What harm are you afraid of?
Trouble I have already. I have no need of more.
But things are not all as you describe them.

Antigone

Says have no fears for me!
I say that I did it and I do not deny it.
I knew it; of course I knew it. It was known to all.
Some thought you were right, and some thought I was.
In virtue of what law do I say this?
What justice of the gods have I transgressed?

There’s nothing, no pain, no private shame,
No public disgrace, nothing I haven’t seen.
You have your excuses,
Don’t fear for me.
Leave me to my own absurdity.








(Cassandra says Fate—chance—world—what have you done to me?)

The chorus says the law is this: no wisdom without pain.
Yours? Mine. Hers. No relenting for any of us.

Am I such a fool as to mix up what’s real with what seems?





Vanessa Place is an American writer and criminal defense appellate attorney. She has published numerous books of poetry and prose, including Dies: A Sentence (2005), La Medusa (2008), the Tragodía trilogy, composed of legal documents, and Boycott (2013). She coauthored Notes on Conceptualisms (2009) with Robert Fitterman. She is also the author of the legal analysis The Guilt Project: Rape, Morality, and Law (2010). Place coedited I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women with Caroline Bergvall, Laynie Browne, and Teresa Carmody, and translated Frank Smith’s Guantanamo (2013).  She has performed internationally, including at the Musée d’Orsay, the Getty Villa, the European Parliament (Brussels) and the Modern Museum of Art (New York), and was the first poet to perform in the Whitney Biennial.  She lives in Brooklyn.


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Founded in 2020, Three Fold is an independent quarterly based in Detroit that presents exploratory points of view on arts, culture, and society in addition to original works in various media, including visual art, literature, film and the performing arts. We solicit and commission contributions from artists, writers, and activists around the world. Three Fold is a publication of Trinosophes Projects, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization located in the historic Eastern Market neighborhood in downtown Detroit. Click here to check out Three Fold’s events page and view a schedule of the publication’s on-site activities.

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