Francesca Dons Beatrice’s Cloak A Lovergirl’s Guide through Dante’s Inferno by Jessie Epstein

Francesca Dons Beatrice’s Cloak by Jessie Epstein sweeps readers into a poetic odyssey where love, myth, and longing intertwine, recasting the shadowy underworld of Dante’s Inferno as a landscape ruled by the relentless pursuit of connection. This “Lovergirl’s Guide through Dante’s Inferno” is both homage and subversion: Francesca, the iconic figure doomed for passionate now journeys not toward damnation but toward the hope of reunion, armed with the ancient Greek notion of homophrosyne, a soulmate’s knowing.

From its compelling foreword, the collection situates love as both compass and trial. Francesca’s descent is not singular; she follows the ghost-tracks of mythic women Penelope, Beatrice, Eurydice, Medea, Persephone—each a guide, skeptic, or accidental roadblock on the winding path back to the beloved. The cast of characters longing gods, discarded brides, unsung heroines become a chorus, each voice sharpening the drama of love’s separation and the ache of return.

The opening lines shimmer with promise and vulnerability:
“I would rather love you up close, but if the road only has room for your feet, I will take the one that meets you on the other side.”

The imagery is lush and evocative: roses blooming in December, apple trees over distant walls, footprints and lighthouses and the echo of a name bellowed through the underworld. Dialogue between lovers dissolves into prayers, regrets, and small hungers “I would rather have loved you up close… I would rather be love’s holy fool than not.”

Odysseus Shazams the Siren’s Song, beautifully reimagines the ancient myth in a modern, intimate voice. The poem replaces epic heroism with quiet vulnerability — Odysseus is no longer escaping monsters but memories. Its images (“Like your laugh after you’ve forgiven me,” “Like my thoughts on a clothesline”) shimmer with tenderness and nostalgia. The sea becomes both lover and mirror, symbolizing longing that can’t be silenced or fully known. Subtle, haunting, and deeply human, this poem captures the ache of remembering what can never be exactly heard again.

 

I’

ve always loved the sound of the sea. Did I ever

tell you about the first raft I made? I built it with my

brother, and we sailed for a month down the coast

just because we could. Nowhere to be.

 

Francesca Dons Beatrice’s Cloak achieves what myth does best: it unlocks the extraordinary within the ordinary, recasting heartbreak as heroism and survival as a new kind of myth-making. In Epstein’s hands, even arrival is ambiguous paradise is claimed by the “lovergirls,” but the journey’s cost is never diminished or romanticized.

This collection is not just a retelling, but a reclamation, a guidebook for all who travel the long and often lonesome road searching for lost halves, true names, and the courage to love boldly despite the underworld’s shadows. Jessie Epstein’s poems are radiant with yearning and knowing; they invite us not just to witness, but to walk if only in memory toward the light at love’s end.

                                                                                                                                        ~ Rochak Agarwal