Please note that Eurydice is available as in EPUB format (which can be easily converted to PDF). Upon purchasing, Eurydice will be immediately available to you via a secure link to the file which will be accessible for 24 hours after the initial download.

In her debut poetry chapbook, Eurydice, Jacquelin Molina Guillen reimagines the greatly adored Greek mythology of Eurydice’s fateful descent into the underworld of heartache after she is bit by a snake and is torn away from her beloved Orpheus.

In this story, death is experienced by two first loves on the precipice of adulthood as life forces them to grow up in the opposing direction of their dreams. For this, death is not sorrowful, neither is it cruel, rather it is the prayer called in by lovers who want the best for the other but know that it is ultimately achieved by following separate paths. One is guided by the dead along the tropical path, the other follows the music resounding from the grasslands. 

Each poem in Eurydice delicately contemplates the concept of death and love, guiding us through Eurydice's journey into the underworld. Her path is marked by irreversible heartbreak, the sorrow of losing those dear to her, and the poignant death of self that accompanies the end of a romantic relationship. Through the powerful transformation of death, Eurydice is able to surrender the life she had once lived in order to follow her heart’s calling–finding her own voice–which leads her soul to paradise, or the land of ancestors, where she is finally able to find many reasons to honor, and of course, celebrate death. Molina carefully merges themes of the ancient Greek myth with her own Mexican roots and customs of honoring passed loved ones through the traditions of Día de los Muertos. By doing this, each poem then becomes an offering to lay upon an altar already adorned with cempasúchil.

A Celebration of Death