OTI:three poems and notes:10/6/16

Open To Interpretation

Mendicants

Aegeus
I may as well have been an ascetic
A mendicant with his cup
With thistles in his
Unshorn hair
From sleeping in fields
Alone under the stars.

Medea
You would have an heir.

Aegeus
I would, and take my place,
A king among kings,
Rather than a pauper alone
With a grandiose dream.

Medea
I will have your son
As you now have me for wife.

Aegeus
Just so, things have transpired,
I gladly admit,
Having this night been with you.

Medea
The morning birds
Greet the sun,
We too
Should say ours prayers of thanks.
Take my hand,
Together we'll join the melodies
In your courtyard's garden.

Aegeus
Oh, your Dragons run to you in greeting,
Medea,
Like Artemis' hounds happy to see her.

Medea
Yes, unshackled, unchained,
How?
 
Aegeus
On the courtyard's flagstones,
Some manner of sea wrack.
It stinks, and sticks to our bare feet.

Medea
Dragon vomit.
The Chariot of Helios is empty...

Palace Attendant
Aegeus!
The Golden Fleece is gone!

Aegeus
How?

Attendants
We know not...
Some spell came over us and knocked us all out!

Aegeus' Warrior
Aegeus!
Theseus and his bunch have broken down our wall! 
They come for Medea, vengeance wild in their eyes.

Medea
Come with me, Aegeus!

Aegeus
I cannot.

Medea
I bear your son!

Aegeus
I bear my Town,
As a King I am.
Stay I will
And defend,
Least our son be barren.

Medea
As I have always been
Here or there,
Not one place of peace have I ever known.

Aegeus
I am bound to you Medea,
Some far future awaits,
But this one,
Immediate slaughter,
Mustn't be.
Go.

Medea
What can be, can be.

The Dragons fly off with Medea and the Chariot of Helios

Medea's Sorrow

Medea knelt in the soft fine sand
By the graves of her sons
And wept.
Eye blurring fog surrounded
And the bays lapping waves
The only sound.
"Go." she told the dragons
"Return Helios' chariot.
I know not where you brought me
Nor care.
I'll wander these shores now,
Alone,
With sorrow my only garment."

Automatons Can Sing

From the bow of the Black Ship,
Hephaestus sighted a solitary figure
Walk past along the shore below.
He hurried down the gangplank,
"Medea," he said
"Normally a woman nude
Along the shore
Would bring a smile,
But seeing you
I find my eyes tear ridden."
"This fog clothes me." Medea said,
"Hephaestus,
I don't see
I'm not seen,
So sorrow drifts about me."
"There's a wardrobe aboard this strange ship I study.
A coverlet for your grief," Hephaestus said,
"Least all that see you become tear fallen on their knees."
"Kindness I can hear, thank you." said Medea.
No sooner than Medea and Hephaestus reached
The Black Deck of the Black Ship,
Than the fog began to lift. 
All about the Ship,
Hephaestus servants busied themselves
Examining this and that.
Medea emerged from the Captain's Cabin
Appareled in black silk pantaloons and maroon silk blouse,
Standard colors of a Black Ship Captain. 
A Raven from the rigging flew down to her shoulder,
Chattering in her ear.
"Oh, quickly Hephaestus," Medea said.
"Set your servants to scrubbing the Black Deck!"
"The sky darkens with storm clouds,
It will rain soon," Hephaestus said,
"And wash the deck,
Which is indeed, I've observed, a mess."
"Nonetheless, do it Hephaestus." said Medea.
"This Raven befriended a piece of wood,
And tells a tale.
Can your automatons sing?"
"Sing, dance," Hephaestus said,
"They are musically inclined as can be,
Being tasked with amusing all Olympus!"
"Set them to cleaning,
Set them to singing,
Medea said,
"This Black Ship
Beyond the Pillars of Hercules
Is seeking!"

DolphinWords

Notes:...play script is all dialog, so it's easy...just put names up of who is speaking, and since the scene is set...is a set!...one can dispense with it quick...but then, in narrative, I get stuck with the 'he said' and 'she said', which normally is an opportunity to describe the emotion of the speaker, but I'm hearing the alliteration of the words, and that messes it up...I'm hoping the 'saids' just drop away in silent reading...oh, this dilemma is annoying...nearly as annoying as rap poetry...profanities are easy to rhyme, and rap poets can go on and on entwining nearly everything, though the tendency is to relate ones own entwinings, the more profane the better!...just so just such won the 'poetry slam' at OCPC, Orange County Poetry Club, last night...of five or six contestants, they were all rappers...and apparently, the 100 dollar prize is at the end of a December rainbow...a final then between the advancements from each previous slam...I don't know how many have gone before...from each, three winners advance...I had fetuccini and my one beer while I listened, happy enough to have seen the Giants' homerun over the Mets while at the bar getting the beer...they advance from the wildcard game...I have a poor 'ear' for spoken performance...anything like a college professor in a foreign language class, and I'm deaf...rap is beyond me, but I brought home another OCPC publication, the fourth, from the featured reader...Stepping Stones by Mister Soul Brew...the book cover has this charming conceit...some white stones arranged like a footprint next to some brown stones arranged like a footprint...inside are some more illustrations in the same notion...I need to figure out how illustrations are included in these little books!...I managed to get his autograph in the book before he waltzed off...poetry is like 99 per cent listening, discussing, regarding, caring, for other poets...maybe 1 percent you allot to yourself!...a theory...but I don't know, circumstances that may be unknown to me determine comings and goings!...after the slam, and featured reading, a few, about half, remained...and Alonso entertained...I had Alonso first, and Soul Brew second, in the slam...I think Alonso might already have made the finals...once advanced, one can't win a ramp up slam...but likely can still participate...I may have gotten roped into competing, but arrived late, but at the very start...so okay...just as well...I'm a poor fit for these evenings!...like some cod from the frozen cold waters of Iceland swimming in a tropical reef...they're all young...and a fine group...I watched some cbs tv drama when I came home...and thought, 'this is so 'old'...anyway, I think I've found a way to remain calm behind that microphone...or without...Alonso had all his effort memorized, and disdained using the mic...came right up close to all of us at the long benches, a good trick, which Soul Brew picked up on, and did one of his likewise...that's beyond for me, but, if I silently read to myself a line from iphone, and then say it, that little moment of review slows me down, and I correct a mistake often before I say it...oh, this is conjecture to try out!...maybe next time...

:)

DavidDavid