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This poem is taken from PN Review 234, Volume 43 Number 4, March - April 2017.

Switchblade Jay Degenhardt
– Klytaimestra does not know what light is. She does not know about wavelengths and spectra and optic
   nerves.

– She does know the shape dark cuts around it.

Kolpos means ‘bosom, lap, womb; fold formed by a loose garment; any hollow’.

– Klytaimestra was afraid of the dark as a child.

– Klytaimestra had two brothers.

– Notes on Klytaimestra are highlighted in red or purple.

– When Klytaimestra goes to bed she rocks her ankles as though to throw off the day’s stasis.
   Her husband does not notice this but has learnt to let it soothe him to sleep. Klytaimestra’s lover finds it
   endearing and kisses the bone joint that juts out above her heel.

– This bone is called the talus and is used to make dice.

– While away at war Klytaimestra’s husband can’t sleep. Sometimes the shaking of his mistress is enough.

– Notes on Kassandra are highlighted in black.

– Klytaimestra uses the word ‘affect’ as a noun but her daughter tries to correct her.

– ‘A Greek woman’s dress (  peplos) was somewhere between a tunic and a mantle, with plenty of extra
   fabric in the upper part in which to carry a baby, or to draw over the head or before the eyes.’
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