Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing

In the midst of her assessment of those who watch her performance, Helen notes, “I understand floods and earthquakes, and the urge / to step on ants” (Lines 36-37). To step on an ant is to destroy it, given the dynamics of pressure and size. Helen uses this notation to show understanding of her emasculated clientele who suffer under destruction that is both man-made and natural. This is why she “dances for them because / they can’t” (Lines 38-39). The clientele lacks true power as mortal “men” (Line 25) and are subject to the whims of fate. Yet, Helen also uses this notation as a metaphor to show that she longs to tamp them down herself. As a demi-goddess, Helen can imagine hurting these clubgoers, who objectify her and are “ready to snap at [her] ankles” (Line 35). She would like to play a towering Olympian, obliterating them like insects. This moment foreshadows her embrace of her ability to incinerate people at the end of the poem.

Helen describes the music she dances to as “humid as August, hazy and languorous / as a looted city the day after” (Line 43) battle in which “survivors wander around / looking for garbage / to eat, and there’s only bleak exhaustion” (Lines 46-48).