Publishing Proposal
Author : Minoo Parniani
Genre: Illustrated Short Stories for Young Readers
Target Audience: Ages 16+
Language: English (translations from Persian originals)
Poseidon and the Frozen Pool
Synopsis:
A poetic, symbolic reflection on past relationships and the inner strength to protect one’s peace. The narrator recalls a marble Poseidon in her mind—more a memory than a threat—and the choice to live with her own still waters, untouched and entirely her own.
Each time a man entered my life, I told myself, “Maybe this one is different. Maybe this time, the voice won’t come from stone.”
But always, without meaning to, his image would rise—Poseidon, marble, white, with a spear that was only a sign of the past, not a threat.
I don’t know when I built this statue in my mind. Perhaps the day I heard the first raised voice. Perhaps the night the first trust cracked. Perhaps the moment I understood that some powers exist only in the gaze, not in truth.
I do not wake Poseidon from his sleep. I keep him. Not out of fear. Out of awareness.
Now he stands as a sign—warning, memory, a reminder that a loud voice does not always come from the sea. Sometimes it comes from dry stone that has learned to roar.
And I—
I live with my own little pool.
With fish that are frozen yet smiling.
With a calm that is sometimes without waves,
but is mine. Only mine.