OTI:two poems and notes:12/26/16

Open To Interpretation

Black Coin

Well,
We're the two sides
Of the Black Coin:
Springing up,
Falling down.

Place

"It's not my place,
Is it, Daedalus?"
Said Theseus.
"To join these Crones
Scrubbing this Black Deck?
Why are we knee bound
With them?"
"Bent over we
With them
Bound we are."
Said Daedalus.
"I'm a King,
Am I not?"
Said Theseus.
"Just so,"
Said Daedalus.
"And a boy."
"No matter that."
Said Theseus.
"So youth would have it."
Said Daedalus.
"Ariadne you abandoned
Like stale bread
To live alone on Naxos,
She, who saved your ass
With a clew,
My ball of yarn."
"I have my destiny to pursue,
Not some lovesick spinster."
Said Theseus.
"So youth seeks their own high estate,"
Said Daedalus,
"Young with young,
"As on occasion
Old too seek young.
Such the appeal
Of before noontime sunshine."
But look,
These old crones
Out perform us,
Our allotted section still a mess
While they rise upright finished,
Free to enjoy the day."
"Slaying the Minotaur
Was hardly this..."
Said Theseus.
"What talents I have
I have,
Theirs are theirs."
Ariadne kneeled beside Theseus,
To him appearing like the other Crones,
Their disguise un-deciphered.
And the Dodona Splinter about her neck,
Held in a bejeweled necklace
Fashioned by Daedalus,
Spoke to Theseus,
"Just so,
You will be
What you will be."
The Crones joined Ariadne
And made short work,
The Deck cleaned,
Theseus and Daedalus free to stand.
"Before you rise up,"
Said the Splinter,
"Gather around close
And shade the Deck
From the sunlight."
Some of the Crones stood,
And arm in arm
Completed a shady canopy
Over the kneeled,
Theseus and Daedalus in the center.
Present time left Daedalus' mind
To see again his son, Icarus,
Portrayed in the Black Deck shaded.
Together they were in Minos'
Imprisoning Tower.
Daedalus saw again
His fashioning of the great wings,
Assembled feather by feather
With wax and careful alignment,
Daedalus heard again
His admonishment to his son,
"Fly to close to the sea
And the feathers will moisten,
Weigh you down,
And you will drown.
Fly too near the sun
And the wax will melt,
The feathers drop one by one,
The last one you,
And you will drown."
Theseus took note
Of Daedalus' tears.
And the Crones
We're giggling young girls,
Their disguise fallen.
"Ariadne!" Theseus said.
"Captain Ariadne to you, Theseus!"
Said the talking Splinter.

DolphinWords

Notes:...reference the story of Daedalus and Icarus, and Theseus leaving Ariadne on Naxos, which has seemed to annoy everyone from the ancients on down!...there's an Etruscan jug with Daedalus on one side, and Medea on the other...brb...maybe I can find the jug...hmmph...wiki's take on Daedalus mentions it...and here I found it, I think...Medea is at one end of like a frieze, and Daedalus at the other...between a group holding something, maybe a long snake or dragon...but no, it's a "long fringe cloth labeled 'gift' "...sheesh...I really got diverted looking at the Etruscan mirrors...those artists had modern skills!

:)

DavidDavid