The Queen of Swords

This is the second of Grahn's projected four-volume "Chronicle of Queens" series. Subtitled "a play with poetic myths," it evolves around a modern-day Helen (associated with Inanna, the Sumerian Queen of Heaven and Earth) who descends to an underworld complete with a lesbian bar and a chorus of punning crow-dykes who put her through various trials designed to release her powers. The play is followed by two poems, connected thematically and imagistically, and exhaustive notes explaining the mythic allusions.