Theodora Goss

Theodora Goss was born in Budapest, Hungary. Her family left the country when she was five, and she lived for two years in Milan, Italy and Brussels, Belgium. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was seven. She grew up in Maryland and Virginia, around the Washington D.C. area and now lives and works in Boston. Theodora is the World Fantasy, Locus, and Mythopoeic Award-winning author of the Athena Club trilogy of novels, and she has written short stories and poetry.

What is a Hellebore? This plant is from the family of Ranunculaceae. And are often poisonous.

The Hellebore

It was January and yet

the green leaves of the hellebore still

stuck out of last year's leafy mold,

mostly oak and maple, edged with frost.

(there was frost all over the garden),

rising leather green, against the brown

underneath I could see the pale cream buds'

of what eventually would become flowers

like bowls of milk, the colors of a wedding gown

as soft as the cheeks of a newborn, as elegant 

as one of those engravings from the Edo period

stylized and meaning something other than self: resiliency, rebirth

The promise of Spring. But they do not seem to mean

anything in particular, as I stood there admiring their tenacity:

I simply wanted them to continue being themselves,

and for myself to learn a little, just a little of their tenacity.  

— Theodora Goss