Saturday, December 31, 2016

OTI:six poems and notes:12/31/16 Happy New Year

Open To Interpretation

Boo

So, so
I am a ghost
That
Goes boo
Too,
It's
What
Ghosts do.
I sing of your glory
Rather than my story.
Don't think
That
Sometimes I don't
Want to just sit
On my hands
And close my eyes.
Corny as it is
It is
What
It is.

Spreadsheet

So, so
Our happy illusions satisfied,
They note in the spreadsheets
In the theater dark,
Glowing,
Millions toted
Beyond
Any comprehension
We will ever have
Of alien worlds.

Cheat

So, so
Did I lift you off your feet?
It was a cheat,
I caught you unawares,
And set you down quick,
Making my retreat.

This And That

So, so
What's beneath this,
And above that,
In our
Tit for tat?

Corn Dog

So, so
I went to the
Corn Dog Castle
Where Corn Dogs Rule
And got a corn dog
While I thought of you.


Birth Place

Ahead in the night,
Wide scattered,
The Dragon Towers
Began to appear,
Aglow with corposant lanterns.
"Where will we find them?"
Asked Hephaestus,
As his Great Eagle
Approached the
Northern Reach.
"Not a problem,"
Said Petra.
"I was born here."
And she looked up at the Stars.

DolphinWords

Notes: went to Target...dogfood, sox, milk, bread, peanut butter...weary of fast food and restaurants...I don't cook...thought is to survive on 'kibbles'...it was nearing dark, and I remembered I haven't been over to the Parks to see the Xmas Trees...I say Parks as I discovered they both have identical ones...it was a ceremony to deliver the one to in front of Main Street Train Station...my boss in Deco would go to Oregon to select one, and when it came down, Deco would go right to work decorating it...and then the ceremony...the front of the crane was fitted out with a holder, the kind a flag bearer wears, a notch for the base of the Tree...and the crane would be extended high up forward, and the hook linked by cable to near the top of the Tree...and then the creep began, from way in back of Small World, through the gates, passed the Matterhorn, and on down Main Street to the little circular park thereabout below the Train Station...riggers would walk along on either side with ropes up to the Tree to keep it from swaying...whole thing like when they take a moon rocket out to the gantry from the assembly building...very cool...so, I come out of the tunnel beneath the Train Station, and the Tree is still up, but not lit...still a little light...but just as I lamented this, the announcer announced the Tree is to be lit...a fanfare, some flashes, and all the lights came on!...have clip of this!...very cool...so, so I wandered about the Park awhile, crowded, not packed...drizzly rain...usually New Year's Eve is packed...'more than Xmas' a vendor explained...just so, I recall...but rain, and inclement weather canceled the Electric Parade...sold out were the coolest Mickey Ears...one had 20, and the other 17, and they glowed...rode three rides!...Big Thunder, Pirates, Jungle Boat...and meandered over to the other Park, California Adventure...and rode two rides there, Little Mermaid, and Buzz Lightyear's Shooting Gallery, or something...51,000 my score...really wanted to hear the live bands, but my feet wore out, so took the bus back to the parking lot...miss the old tram rides out to ones car...back by 9:30, fed Maya my dog, and snuggled in...

:)

DavidDavid

Friday, December 30, 2016

OTI:three poems and notes:12/30/16

Open To Interpretation

Beginning

To begin here
Or better there
Just Inside the front cover?
Or is there
Just as good as here
Inbetween somewhere?


Argument

Quixote
Tell me, Sancho,
Is this not a desolate landscape
Wrinkled with terrors?
Sancho
I have no wrinkles!
Quixote
Yes, so rounded you are.
This Village is sound...
Sancho
Friendly I'd say!
Quixote
No, sound I say,
I hear a great roaring
From that cave.
Sancho
A gypsy tavern only,
Some applause...
Quixote
A Dragon's lair...
Sancho
A lair yes
If music be so
And so reside inside.
Quixote
We dismount and go see
If a Dragon there be.
Sancho
No pistols No Swords
No Heralded Armor,
The doorway lintel says
Beneath Skull and Bones.
Quixote
A Dragon for certain...
We can meet head on,
Mano a Draco,
Unembellished.
Help me off with my
Metal shroud.

Tablao

And inside the flamenco guitarists
Rasqueadoed,
Old men drummed the floor
Keeping time with wooden staves,
And a high booted gypsy
Girl whirled and danced
Clacking the black deck tablao.
Thunder it seemed
To Quixote,
Seated kindly by the gypsies
At a small table;
Sancho and he bought drinks.
Lightning it seemed,
The guitar strings illuminating
The dancer dressed in
Black pantaloons
And maroon blouse
Reflecting back
The colored lanterns
On the room's walls,
Mirrored, with bullfights.
"Dulcinea!" said Quixote.
"We'll come here often, Sancho."
And Sancho was pleased
To share Quixote's Dragon Dreams.

DolphinWords

Notes: reference "argument', the introduction in epics before each book/chapter that summarized what was to follow...early novels did this too, as early novelists thought they were writing epics!...I went to the bookstore looking for a recommended book called "Naked"...found that, and while there thought to look for the Odyssey...a new translation was on the shelves, and looks okay, but pricey...authors did up the Illiad too...left the bookstore empty handed...as usual...they're all too pricey...but looked up Pope's translation of the Odyssey on the web...found that...and this good article about it...

quote

The thing that best distinguishes this from all other translations of Homer is that it alone equals the original in its ceaseless pour of verbal music. When Pope's contemporaries praised him for his ''numbers,'' they were referring not to the fairly obvious metrical system of the heroic couplet but to the euphony he achieved within its constraints. The relatively enclosed nature of the system concentrates attention on every syllable in the line, on continual shifts in the position and degree of pause marked by metrical breaks (caesuras), on sound effects used to emphasize the careful alterations in word order.

On Reading Pope's Homer

Thursday, December 29, 2016

OTI:one poem and notes:12/29/16

Open To Interpretation

Arribbadas

Time was there was an Arrival
At the soft sand beach at Pegesae,
This before Humankind
Began to spread
Along the shorelines
Of the Little Middle Sea,
Remembered still
At the Arrival at Phaeacia.
Thereabout, the Giant Black Squid
Spoke with the Black Ships,
Flashing skin to flashing skins,
Neon colors on the night dark
Phaeacian shore,
As the Ships, beached at high tide,
Lay their eggs in the soft sand.
One Black Ship
Was to go back to Pegesae.
The deal had been made,
Messaged by the little Black Ship,
Between Poseidon and the Giant Black Squid:
Greeks for crew
With harpoon skills
To defend against Dragons;
And for the Greeks,
Transport to the Northern Reach
To prevent the return
Of Theseus to Athens
With the Sandals and Sword.
Just so Poseidon would
Have patronage of Athens
Under King Minos' rule.
And just so Athene would
Have things otherwise,
And negotiated,
Her arms akimbo,
In disguise as a young village girl
Standing high on the beach
Before the Giant Black Squid.
She had a champion,
She said,
Above all Greeks,
And as Fate would have it,
Just now storm tossed by Poseidon;
Raft broken,
Wave thrown on the Arrival beach,
Odysseus, unconscious, sleeping.
The Giant Black Squid
Listened to Athene.
Nausicaa for Captain,
Phaeacians for crew,
Odysseus as first mate,
Athene proposed.
"No Ships against Ships."
Said the Squid.
"What Greeks do with Greeks
Is their business."
"I cannot promise..."
Said Athene.
"No deal."
Said the Giant Black Squid.
Odysseus slept away
A night and a day,
Nausicaa kneeling beside him.
The only sound soft waves
On the Phaeacian beach
Beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
In the morning,
The Black Ships were all gone,
Their annual labor finished.

DolphinWords

Notes: hmmph...reference sea turtles...reference the Phaeacian Black Ships!

quote

The palace was guarded by mechanical dogs made of silver and gold. King Alkinoos would later help Jason and the Argonauts with their trip to get the Golden Fleece and Phaeacian ships were said to have accompanied Jason on his mission.
Let’s see now why their ships and their skills in navigating made them so famous. The Phaeacians were expert navigators. However, according to Homer, the ‘ships’ were vehicles in black colour that could ‘fly’ over the sea. They didn’t have oars or a rudder, nor did they have captains to navigate them. The ships were driven by thought – they could connect to the human minds and execute their commands, and they could travel under any condition; they were unsinkable. The ‘ships’ had advanced navigation systems with knowledge of all cities and all countries of the ancient World and could navigate easily under any condition. This ‘technology’ was given to them by the god Poseidon, their protector.

http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/mythic-scheria-and-legendary-phaeacians-001034

unquote

ral...

:)

DavidDavid

Monday, December 26, 2016

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


Saturday, December 24, 2016

Merry Xmas (OTI:3poemsandnotes12/24/16)

Open To Interpretation

Cares

The Golden Fleece
Was safely stored
In Black Dragon Onyx's
Stone Tower,
Otherwise,
It would be under the snow
Covering the other treasures
Waiting on the red stage
Of Crater Origin
For Spring and the Gift Giving.
Black Dragon Onyx and Queen Medea
Were nearly covered by snow too
Having been quiet,
Resting among the empty pillars
Central in the Crater.
It was their wont of late
To sojourn alone together to the Crater
Seeking solitude's melancholy.
Onyx would doze
In and out of the Dragon Dream.
Medea felt his warmth
Beside her
And recalled her sons,
As Onyx remembered his,
There, together, snow showered,
Away from all cares,
Alone in the Northern Reach
With their only care.

Rain Drops

Oh!
Like ephemeral stars
The rain drops splash up
From the Black Decks
Aglow with the sheen of the
Colored lanterns.


Preparations
chorus

The Homeridae sat huddled
Under oil cloth ponchos
Beneath the Dodona Oak.
Rain falling falling
And they thought to warm
Themselves with conversation.

It is no night to travel...
Our prayers for safe journeys...
From tarp covered wood
They set dry sticks in the
The cuddled campfire.

Poseidon imperils
Athene's Black Ship Navy...
Two, or is it three for now?
Jason's and Theseus'
Black Ships...
Glauce and Ariadne
Captain them...
Just so, to them the Ships belong.
Will the Medea and Liz take sides?
Kannon Captains them both,
Following on to the Northern Reach...
They align with the Dragons...
And the Dragons
With Dulcinea and Medea...
Are the Dragons at war,
Northern with Southern?
Petra has yet to meet Medea...
Neither know the full responsibilities
Of Dragon Queens...
And there is Onyx's grandson
Ametrine carries...
And Aegeous son
Medea carries...
Poseidon would be patron
Of Athens...
And just so held sway from Crete
With the tribute from Athens,
Her virgins for the Minotaur.
Now the Minotaur is slain,
Poseidon and Pasiphae grief stricken.
Through Theseus, Athene undid
Poseidon's and Minos' grip.
By taking the Sword and Sandals,
Onyx and Medea have undone Theseus,
Athene's hope.
Will Poseidon enlist Medea?
Or will Athene?
Medea's son by Aegeus
Will be heir to the throne of Athens...
Poseidon has one recruit,
The Black Ship for
Minos and Pasiphae.
Recruits...
Athene seeks more...
And Poseidon will need more...
Such is preparation for war.

Colored Lanterns

Black Dragon Ametrine's
Nest was done
And towered over Ishi's Village
Next to Ametrine's cave in
The Rocky Slope.
The Flight had assembled it
For Ametrine
And it glittered with treasures.
Guided by the Flight
She nestled down on the Nest.
After a day she laid her egg,
Rested over it,
Stretched and mantled her wings,
Folded them,
Tucked her head under one wing
And dreamed Dragon dreams.
It would be awhile.
Oh, but not too long
Before Ishi's Village
Awoke in the night
To the sound
Of hatchling Black Dragon roars.
The Villagers gathered around
The tall glittering nest
Aglow with colored corposants,
Lanterns harvested from Black Ships,
And sang Dragon songs,
Pet roaring to the choruses.

DolphinWords

Notes: Cares...Thomas Jefferson had a travail, and for solace would just ride about on his horse...granted the Founding Father's estates were supported by slave labor, as were ancient Greece's aristocracy, but what a marvel of a time colonizing a new world!...Rain Drops...was looking out from Denny's window, my usual wont!, at the rare heavy rainfall, cars all dashing about splashing...rain gives asphalt streets a charm, like nightfall over city lights...Preparations...miss poking up the "authors in eternity"'s names...they too!...but when the chorus is inclined to go on and on, they'll just be chorus...always thought of the Black Dragon nests as being decorated like Xmas trees, and...well, here it is, Xmas Eve!...Merry Christmas!

:)

DavidDavid


Thursday, December 22, 2016

OTI:two poems and notes:12/22/16

Open To Interpretation

Pi

Oh!
Am I Pi?
A jumble of types
Thrown together,
Or just piebald,
You and I?
Some think it remiss
To be pied pipers.
What do they know?
Certainly not all our tunes!

Ametrine

The pain of his crushed hands
Drove Hephaestus to his knees,
And Petra commanded Pet
To stand back
As she and Kannon rushed
To comfort Hephaestus.
With each of his hands
In one of theirs,
The pain was gone.
"Some repair we can do,
But your fingers will
Have an awkwardness."
Said Kannon.
Hephaestus flexed his hands,
"An appropriate reminder
And caution,
Black Dragons are not to be
Messed with."
Hephaestus said.
"I must be off to warn Medea."
Black Dragon Pet
Approached Hephaestus
Astride his Great Eagle.
"Wait!" said Pet.
"I have a message for
Black Dragon Onyx.
Tell Onyx I carry
Black Dragon Ametrine's son."
Petra stood before Pet,
Arms akimbo.
"How so?"
Pet lowered herself
To gaze at Petra.
"Ametrine fell to the Black Waves
In the battle with your Black Ship."
Petra considered,
"Then, it was no trade deal
With Nemo
When you snatched me
From the Nautilus' deck?"
"Then," said Pet,
"I flew with the Northern Flight
In an alliance of marriage
To bring peace between the Flights.
Black Dragons are by nature
Quarrelsome,
It is why we seek rule by you,
Queen Petra.
You slew my mate."
"By no singular intention!"
Said Petra, tear stricken.
"Just so I know.
Then, grief stricken,
I sought revenge,
And before the Southern Flight
To deliver you to judgment."
Said Pet.
"Why didn't,
Why didn't you just eat me?"
Asked Petra.
"Black Ship Captains
Are sacrosanct,
An old Tale,
An old deal
Between Black Dragons,
Black Ships,
The Cephalopods
And the Giant Black Squid,
A history older than Humankind."
Said Pet.
"So I am learning,"
Said Petra.
"What is your Dragon Name, Pet?"
"Dragons take the name
Of their fallen mate." said Pet.
"Now I am called
Black Dragon Ametrine.
Black Dragons never fall."
"Black Ships,"
Petra said,
"Black Ships have an abhorrence
Of Black Dragons."
"Yes," said Pet,
"They live submerged when young.
With fondness I remember
The pursuits in the ink
Of the deep sea
When I was young too.
Grown up, afloat,
Sailing about,
They are a terror to a single Black Dragon.
Even to a Flight
They are problematic.
It is by your dispensation,
Queen Petra,
I can stand on a Black Deck.
And I must be off alone awhile."
"How so?" said Petra,
Fearful of a rift
Between her and Pet.
"Maternal things,
Dragon stuff." said Ametrine.
"You need me to see?" said Petra.
"The Flight will shepherd me,
Their hope for peace
With the Northern Flight."
Said Ametrine.
"I am Queen Petra, still?"
Said Petra.
"Yes, and
I am Black Dragon Pet, still."
Said Pet.
Dragons of the Flight
Neared Black Ship Liz,
And Ametrine joined them
To return to Nevermore.
"You and your ilk
Are not to be trusted,
Hephaestus," said Petra.
"And your Greeks,
Your headlong rush,
Will bring grief to the
Northern Reach."
She stood up to
Hephaestus on his Eagle.
"What to do..."
"Black Ships Medea and Liz
Are with me." said Kannon.
"Go, make sure
Black Dragon Onyx
Hears Pet's message."
"Make room!"
Petra said,
And seated herself
In front of Hephaestus
On the Great Eagle's neck.

DolphinWords

Notes: it's late, and it's raining lots!...I made an update to 12/17 post...Ariadne disguised herself as an old woman, left Naxos, followed Theseus to Athens, and so now is the Captain of that Black Ship...she took with an entourage...disguised too as old women, they now crew the Black Ship...Theseus is a fug head, and abandoned Ariadne on Naxos as she is much older than he...Minos searches for her, angry with her and
Daedalus for the ball of yarn deceit, and seeks revenge on Athens, along with Pasiphae, for the death of Pasiphae's son, the Minotaur, rumored to be fathered by Poseidon...oh, I should give this to the Dodona Oak Chorus!

:)

DavidDavid

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

OTI:two poems and notes:12/20/16

Open To Interpretation

Lesson

Why gamble?
If I lose
It's a lesson
I've paid for.

Little

The Cephalopods
Shoaled around the
Giant Black Squid
Just Beyond
The Pillars of Hercules
And waited.
Noted and saluted
Was the passage of the keel
Of Ariadne's Black Ship.
Soon after arrived
The little Black Ship,
No longer than a forearm,
Submerged like all
Juvenile Black Ships
Before they take to
The ocean's surface and sail.
Squid like, octopus like,
It presented before
The Giant Black Squid
And the gathered Pods,
Its black skin
Black as the deepest depths,
Just where such skin
Feeds on detritus of the
Sea creatures of the sunlight.
The tips of its eight arms
Pearlesced, glowed,
Announced to the Giant Black Squid.
The Giant Black Squid
Watched,
Listened as it were,
And was wary,
Even little Black Ships
Have lightning stings,
And Black Ships are temperamental.
Finished,
The little Ship's great red eyes
Regarded the Giant Black Squid's
Response rippling 
Black Light colors
Over all its body:
Poseidon is to have his wish,
A Black Ship for Pasiphae
And King Minos.
Message delivered
Message received
The little messenger
Turned to return
Through the Pillars
To Poseidon's little sea.

DolphinWords

Notes: reference: BDT poem The Cephalopods and...

quote

The vampire squid can reach a maximum total length c. 30 cm (0.98 ft). Its 15-cm (6-in) gelatinous body varies in colour from velvety jet-black to pale reddish, depending on location and lighting conditions. A webbing of skin connects its eight arms, each lined with rows of fleshy spines or cirri; the inner side of this "cloak" is black. Only the distal half (farthest from the body) of the arms have suckers. Its limpid, globular eyes, which appear red or blue, depending on lighting, are proportionately the largest in the animal kingdom at 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in diameter.[1] The animal's dark colour, cloak-like webbing, and red eyes give the vampire squid its name — it does not feed on blood.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_squid

unquote

ral...

:)

DavidDavid


Saturday, December 17, 2016

OTI:one poem and notes:12/17/16

Open To Interpretation

Piraeus

Inside the ship sheds
Workmen's voices echoed loud
Under the roofs
And over the dark water
And dank stone quays and bollards.
Theseus' ship, mast lowered,
Tied up, and
Theseus and Daedalus
Followed on after the crew
Descending the gangplank.
Ascending were the old women slaves
With their buckets and brushes
And whatnot for cleaning
And restoring and refurbishing
Ships of the Athenian Navy
When harbored at Piraeus.
It was the old women's
Expertise and their employment
When not laying out the dead.
"What manner of ship is it, Daedalus?"
Asked Theseus,
Shouting and dodging the old women.
"I don't know." said Daedalus.
They passed out from under
The roof of the ship shed
And into sunlight and the
Sound of calling Gulls
And croaking Ravens
Swarming the rigging
Of the Black Ship
Theseus had towed back to
Piraeus from the soft sand beach
At Pegasae.
"The graves, they were Medea's and Jason's sons."
 Said Theseus.
"Was it Jason's bones beneath the
Argo's prow?"
"I think not." said Daedalus.
"Medea spun the prophetic rumor
He would die so."
"Just so she addled my father Aegeus' mind."
Said Theseus.
"Rumor in Athens has it you killed him
To become king." said Daedalus.
"Not so."  Said Theseus.  "I caught out his spies,
Sent to watch and assure him
The Minotaur had eaten us.
They confessed that Aegeus
Had been forewarned by Medea
Of plotting by me to poison him at banquet.
So in turn,
He plotted my doom in the Labyrinth."
"So all Athens now thinks."
Said Daedalus.
"I am their rightful king,
Son of Aegeus." said Theseus.
"Son of Poseidon, the Council thinks,"
Said Daedalus,
"And will have no truck
With a half mortal half immortal."
"Am I so, Daedalus?" asked Theseus.
"I don't know." said Daedalus.
"I don't know either," said Theseus.
"This festering sliver in my hand
Seems to say I'm all Athenian,
Prone to mortal pain."
"The Argo's fallen prow was
Absent the talking plank of Dodona."
Said Daedalus.
"My hands cut too from digging
Through the rotting wood
Where the prow once held it."
"Athens thinks me a patricide,
Throwing Aegeus over the cliff
On my return." said Theseus.
"Just so." said Daedalus.
"But it wasn't so!" said Theseus,
"I startled him,
Arriving at the cliff top
In my hurry
To set right what Medea had set wrong.
He slipped and fell."
"Athens thinks a push." said Daedalus.
"His attendants saw true!" said Theseus.
"But so many opposed
Have bent the attendants' memory,
Least they find themselves in my plight.
At every turn
Things conspire against me.
So things have been
Since Medea and her Black Dragon
Took the sandals and sword,
Athens' and Aegeus'
Royal heirlooms.
I'm no coward, Daedalus,
But I cowered before her Dragon
When he breathed fire at my head.
I had never known the like."
"Medea bears Aegeus' son." said Daedalus.
"And I am king
And this I know
Though no one else agree." said Theseus.
The Black Ship
Shown like a star spangled night
In the sunlight
Moored before
The tall white marble Piraeus Lions,
Guardians of the Harbor.
"I need to retrieve the sandals and sword."
Said Theseus,
"Maybe this strange ship is the means."
Daedalus and Theseus climbed aboard.
"Holy shit!" said Daedalus,
"The deck is a mess."
"The old women on my ship!"
Theseus shouted out to the workers on the dock,
"Bring them here!"
"An improvement,"
Said Daedalus, kneeling on the Black Deck,
Much work by the women having been done.
"Don't know but I feel a compulsion
To join the women on my knees 
To see closer the marvel of this black surface."
"I as well!" said Theseus, and joined
Daedalus crouched.
The women laughed to see them so.
"Am I to drown in shit?"
Theseus heard his hand
With the splinter say
As he scrubbed the Black Deck.
"What marvel is this, Daedalus?"
Said Theseus, holding up his injured hand.
"Success!" Daedalus said.
"You've come away from the Argo's prow
With a fragment of the talking plank!"
One old woman nearby overheard,
And said,
"I can remove the splinter,
Many such I've taken from the war torn."
Theseus offered her his hand,
And she washed the wound clean,
Working the splinter free with a long needle.
And the splinter spoke to the old woman,
"In thanks I am yours
To wear about your neck,
An amulet,
And this ship to sail as well
Beneath your feet and yours."
And all the old women
Rose to their feet,
The cleaning task complete.
The Black Ship pulled at its mooring
As the women crewed the rigging
And set the Black Sails.
"To you I'll speak,"
The Splinter continued,
"But it is for Theseus to understand.
He misunderstands you as an old woman
Ariadne, such is your disguise,
So you will be known for all women
Who are abandoned with age, neglected.
Theseus will know you
As Captain of this Black Ship.
In your cabin is clothing for you
And your crew. 
Theseus is your first mate,
And his quest to complete:
Retrieve the Sandals and Sword
From beyond the Pillars of Hercules."
The Black Ship, set free from its mooring
Before the White Marble Lions,
Galloped across the Aegean.

DolphinWords

Notes: oh, I did this whole bit just to work into the Tale the harbor at Piraeus, and the Piraeus Lions!

quote

The statue, which is made of white marble and stands some 3 m (9 ft.) high, is particularly noteworthy for having been defaced some time in the second half of the 11th century by Scandinavians who carved two lengthy runic inscriptions into the shoulders and flanks of the lion.[6] The runes are carved in the shape of an elaborate lindworm dragon-headed scroll, in much the same style as on runestones in Scandinavia.[7] The carvers of the runes were almost certainly Varangians, Scandinavian mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Emperor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piraeus_Lion

unquote

and...

quote

In the Middle Ages, the port was usually called by the Venetians the "port of Sithines" (that is, of Athens) and in the 14th century, the name "Lion" is first attested, after the colossal ancient sculpture of a lion, the Piraeus Lion, which stood at the harbor's entrance. This later become Porto Leone (Πόρτο Λεόνε).[12] It was also called Porto Drako (Πόρτο Δράκο) by Greeks, drako meaning not just "dragon", but any monster.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piraeus

unquote

update 12/22...I missed something...I didn't realize Ariadne was among the old women disguised...I had thought to just name the one to be Captain and carry the splinter Ariadne, after Ariadne, who was abandoned by Theseus on Naxos...but that didn't work...so made a change which works much better with this:

The Splinter continued,
"But it is for Theseus to understand.
He misunderstands you as an old woman
Ariadne, such is your disguise,
So you will be known for all women
Who are abandoned with age, neglected.
Theseus will know you
As Captain of this Black Ship.

:)

DavidDavid




Tuesday, December 13, 2016

OTI:one poem and notes:12/13/14

Open To Interpretation

Each Time

Each time I see you
A tear comes to my eye.
Just between you and I,
I'll touch my hand to my cheek
When I say hello
And goodbye.

DolphinWords

Notes: got home too late last night to do up a 12/12/37 remember the Panay post...I went to see Carah Faye at the echoplex!...took note from her facebook page that a show was on at a nighclub on Sunset Blvd. in LA for Monday night...and, well, I've never been to an old time LA rock and roll night club...though the echoplex is likely new, it's old school...all black inside like a Disney scary ride...a Black Ship!...email ticket, ten bucks, said 8pm, so left at 6pm from town for the scary ride to LA...I don't go on freeways much at night, and going into the heart of LA is just such... echoplex is likely after Echo Park just down the street...actually, as the ticket noted, one enters through an ally way on Glendale...arrived thereabout about 7:40 and waited in line, just a bit back from the front...more fans arrived, and what, maybe a hundred?...we didn't fill the place up by a long shot, so likely a disappointment to the bands, BEGINNERS and Weathers...but it was really nice...one could be sixteen to get in the door...just couldn't get drinks from the bar...I of course as usual a fish out of water...but the small crowd meant I could stand close to the stage...and I got a really nice clip with my iphone4...gonna take awhile to translate it to youtube...don't know but I might dust off my critter clip skills and hang out in nightclubs taking rock and roll clips!...no one seems to object, and I'll link one of the night here already up...the one I took is in portrait mode, which is how it should be...but youtube prefers landscape...anyway, it was all much fun, and got there and back okay, though the engine warning light in Silver my jeep is on again...it does that, off and on, now and then...half to laugh, note when the lights lightning flash...tall fellow on the left with his hat bill up high...that's me...I flipped it around later, which seemed the common thing to do...oh, it was loud...thought I knew what loud could be...

:)

DavidDavid

Sunday, December 11, 2016

OTI:one poem and notes:12/11/16

Open To Interpretation

A Bit Much

Chorus

It's a bit much...
Pasiphae...
A white bull...
Rome would celebrate in the Colosseum Show...
Out of doors...
A true penned experience...
And following on...
Seven virgin boys
Seven virgin girls
Shipped off to the Minotaur...
But not before Aegeus
Stowed away Theseus...
What was that about?
Was Theseus even a virgin?
Assuming, but even still,
The slayer of the Marathonian Bull
Would have been square jawed
With at least some stubble.
The Black Tale has it
Aegeus intended Theseus doom.
Theseus would perish
Along with the thirteen other virgins.
Theseus, son of Poseidon and Aethra,
Slain by the Minotaur, son of Pasiphae
And the White Bull
Earlier slain by Theseus
On the road to Athens.
Theseus, eaten by the Minotaur,
Aegeus, filicide,
Would continue to rule Athens,
Half sonless.
But,
Ariadne at first sight
Falls in love with square jawed Theseus.
And Daedalus,
The Labyrinth engineer,
Gives
Ariadne a ball of thread
She gives
To Theseus to
Find his way out of the labyrinth
After slaying the Minotaur.
What of the Virgins?
And King Minos, hoodwinked?
Left to dangle,
Like
Ariadne on the Island of Naxos
By Theseus,
Theseus,
Eager to get back and...
Why does everyone miss this?
To get back and be
Theseus, patricide,
King of Athens,
Half fatherless,
Aegeus out of the way over a cliff
Into the sea.
Aegeus, the fug head,
Must have told his spies
To set white sails on the return
If Theseus was dead.
His spies, seeing which way the wind blew,
Did just that,
And Theseus,
Alive concealed,
Ran right up the sea cliff
And tossed the old king over,
Or maybe Aegeus was startled
And slipped.
Aegeus the idiot,
Namesake of the Aegean.
Theseus, first king of Athens
To consolidate Greece,
Greece,
Precursor of Rome
Precursor of Albion
Precursor of Columbia.
It all began with a fluked white bull?
That, and some jealous losers,
The Athenian athletes that slayed
Minos' champion son
And so brought on
The fourteen virgin
Nine year cyclic recompense,
Athenian virgin dinners
For the Cretan Minotaur,
Minos' labryrinthian perpetual revenge.
Bulls are vegetarians...
It must have been,
For the half man half bull
Minotaur,
The carnivorous human trait
That made this all work!
Oh, it will be
The sandals and sword
Black Dragon Onyx took to make
The Black Tale work!
They are Theseus' birthright,
Athen's Totems.
With out the sandals and sword
Theseus is a fug head,
Not a king.
Like maybe father
Maybe son...
Athene is Athens,
And will task Theseus
To retrieve the Totems.
Theseus salvaged the Argo
But neglected to pick up
The talking plank from the bow...
An omission Daedalus notices
On Theseus' ship
While fleeing Minos' wrath
Over Ariadne's ball of yarn.
Just so
We are taken back to
Pegesae,
Theseus and Daedalus
Seeking some splinter
Of counsel from Athene.
A Black Ship for Theseus?
For his black designs on
Medea and Onyx?
Theseus, the fug head
Of the smoking hair
And dangling left behinds,
Will have to hurry,
Jason and Black Ship Argo
Are almost there.

DolphinWords

Notes: it is indeed all a bit much to consider...I can't recall if I spun this out before or after I watched a student production of Oedipus Rex at Irvine Valley College last night...well performed...and produced...the school is a marvel...wonderful buildings...and gave me pause to think that maybe Town can become the new center...some fate may await this village by the sea!...anyway, I've never seen a Greek play, and sat entranced, much to think on...at the end, the actors removed their headware, set them on the stage, for acknowledgement and applause...leaving off from the old to now...kind of miss the old...a sad moment...brb...

quote

"A public tends to get the literature it deserves: a literature, to get the public it deserves. The values men pursue in each, affect the other. They turn in a vicious, or a virtuous, circle. Only a fine society could have bred Homer: and he left it finer for hearing him."[1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._L._Lucas

unquote

Lucas wrote an epic poem about Ariadne, which I noted studying wiki's take on Ariadne...and then studying Lucas!...he was a spy!...worked at Bletchley Park during WW2...between the wars he sounded the alarm about Germany...too much to relate...see the link!...German's had a list...Sonderfahndungsliste G.B. ...and Lucas was on it...and he made a book of Greek poetry translations which looks to be good, and for sometime read...
anyway, before posting this post up, I thought to get some support...and googled Minotaur Freud...taking my own council that Freud put together with anything brings up everything!...this bit seems to step along the same slippery stepping stones my bit does...so, so some encouragement...

quote

AROUND THE MINOTAUR


On Minoan Crete, David Harsent and Harrison Birtwhistle

(Published in Covent Garden’s programme, Aprli 2008, to accompany Harrison Birthwhistle’s opera The Minotaur)

http://www.ruthpadel.com/around-the-minotaur-minoan-crete-david-harsent-and-harrison-birtwhistle/



Foolishly, Minos kept the bull and did not sacrifice it. In punishment, Poseidon made Minos’s wife Pasiphae desire it sexually. Pasiphae asked the Athenian sculptor Daedalus, exiled to Crete, construct a cow-frame in which she enticed the bull to mount her. Pasiphae bore the bull a son: Asterios, the Minotaur, the half-man-half-bull who has summed up the dividedness of human nature in Western imagination ever since.

unquote

hmphh...it was a slippery slope for Aegeus too!

:)

DavidDavid




Wednesday, December 7, 2016

OTI:three poems and note:11/7/16

Open To Interpretation

Lol
(Laughing out loud)

How to say,
Well,
It's like
Solo
Soloists
Duos
Duetists
Trios
Trysts...
Lol!
Beyond that,
It's a rock and roll band.
Always wanted to be
In a band
On a stage
Displayed,
Why not?
No need to be shy,
And melodies are easy to carry
For when you're carried away.

Next To Never

Next to never
Sat improbable:
Marriage impossible.

Penance

Morning came
And noon
And in the afternoon
The Southern Flight arrived
To find Hephaestus alone
Aboard Medea's Black Ship.
Ishmael and Black Dragon Beryl
Dropped off Petra
On Black Ship Liz
And then
Alighted aboard Black Ship Medea.
"Things are not what they seem."
Said Hephaestus.
"So I've heard."
Said Ishmael.
"My sympathies are with Medea. "
Said Hephaestus,
"Her future peril
I thought to accompany
And deter.
The harpoons were a mechanical error."
"So," Ishmael laughed,
"Another Nemo you would seem."
The Nautilus had come along side,
And Nemo joined
Ishmael and Hephaestus.
Too, Kannon arrived on
Black Dragon Pet.
"I am not of your ability,
Nemo." said Hephaestus.
"Your Nautilus a marvel beyond.
I thought to impress,
But my automaton scrub brushes
Made a mess."
"Just so," said Nemo
"The hazard of mechanical things."
"And your compensation, Hepahestus."
Added Kannon.
"Yes, from my lameness." said Hephaestus,
"On Olympus, my limp
Is always mocked.
If not with words
Then with looks."
"So is seeming cruel,
And creative." said Kannon.
"Would you prefer an even gait
If you could, Hephaestus?"
"That you can grant?"
Hephaestus asked.
"Easily."  Kannon said.
Petra arrived
On a borrowed Black Dragon,
And Pet ran to her
Across the Black Deck,
And Petra scratched Pet
Under her chin.
"My apologies, Queen Petra."
Said Hephaestus.
"Done is done."
Said Petra,
"For me,
A night swim,
For Pet and the Flight
It was grim."
"Captain Kannon," Hephaestus said
"In penance
I will remain lame."
"So you will!" said Pet,
Taking Hephaestus hands
In her mouth,
Crushing the fingers of both.

DolphinWords

Note: it's Pearl Harbor Day...USS New Jersey, BB-62, was nicknamed 'Black Dragon'...



Monday, December 5, 2016

OTI:one poem and notes:12/5/16

Open To Interpretation

Never Trust A Blue Blue Sky

The Black Sea was calm
Under a blue blue sky
And cold winds blew
But no ruffled waves
And the black sails slack
And the white sun shone
From the zenith
Down on the Black Ships.
Hephaestus dismounted
From his Great Eagle
And joined Jason,
Orpheus, Creon, and Glauce,
At the Black Ship Argo's bow.
"I can't hear, Hephaestus!"
Said Jason,
"These winds so loud,
I can't hear, I can't think.
What is happening, Hephaestus?
It was night,
And now a sudden,
High noon day!
And these winds, Hephaestus,
They howl into our ears
But nothing moves!
Hephaestus!  Why did your automatons
Throw the harpoons,
And hazard Petra and her Black Dragon?
No sooner they fell to the waves
Than that night
Became this wind screaming day!
What have you done,
Olympian Hephaestus?"
Hephaestus looked down
At the Black Deck,
Daring not to meet Jason's gaze,
And shrugged.
"Automatons are automatons,"
Hephaestus said,
"And mistook Petra for a threat.
You did steal her ship."
"Not so," Jason said
"It came of its own accord
When we left Harbor with Argo,
And Medea's Black Ship
Gifted to Glauce.
I can't think,
This wind...
Hephaestus, did your scrub brushes
Beguile the Black Ship Liz
To follow us?
Hephaestus? Speak!"
Hephaestus stood downcast
And silent.
The winds howled.
The Black Ships' Ravens and Gulls,
All aloft,
Swung wildly riding the winds.
"Jason..."
The Dodona plank was speaking from the prow...
"I can't hear a thing, Orpheus,"
Jason said,
"What is Athene saying?"
"I can hear," said Orpheus,
"But understanding is for you, Jason.
She says:
'What is yours
Is yours.
What isn't
Isn't.
What is ours
Is ours.
What is
Is.'
And the plank was quiet.
"Clear those damned scrub brushes
From the Black Decks!" commanded Jason.
The Argo's crew set about the task
And Hephaestus flew to Black Ship Liz,
And Glauce's  Black Ship gifted
By Medea,
And his automatons
Collected up the scrub brushes
And tossed them in the sea.
The Ravens and Gulls
Returned to the riggings
And the winds died down.
"Ah, I can think again,"
Said Jason,
"Be that as it may...
Glauce, as proof of my love for you,
You would have me slay Medea,
Revenge her cruelty to you
And your father, Creon?
Medea's cruelty
Was mine as well,
You were innocents.
Strangers in your land,
I thought Medea, our children,
Would find home,
Family, tribe,
Through my second marriage to you,
Glauce."
"My daughter's will is mine,"
Said Creon.
"Medea wrapped her in torment,
And I as well incidentally."
"That pain is passed,
Erased by Athene."
Said Jason.
"Yes, our skins are whole,
Said Creon,
"But still writhe my thoughts."
"Glauce, is it so with you?"
Said Jason.
"My father I obey.
I love you Jason." said Glauce.
"I love you Glauce." said Jason,
"Your father together we follow.
We sail on,
If sail on we can,
With the Black Ship Argo alone.
Leave the Black Ship Liz
And Glauce's Black Ship
Gifted by Medea
Behind
For the Southern Flight to find.
Surely they pursue,
They're minds writhing
With the loss of Petra
And Black Dragon Pet."
And it was night again,
The white sun a white moon
At the zenith over the Black Sea,
And the Black Ship Argo continued
Dark wind blown, black sails full.
Black Ship Liz
And Glauce's Black Ship
Gifted by Medea,
Adrift, left behind
For the Southern Flight to find.

DolphinWords

Notes: reference Euripide's play Medea...I just don't know what to do with the bunch on land...yet...reference BDT poem Lateral Lines...

:)

DavidDavid

Saturday, December 3, 2016

OTI:one poem and notes:12/3/16

Open To Interpretation

A Distant Song, A Distant Light

"I hear Petra singing!"
Back Dragon Pet said.
"Shhh...I see..." said Kannon,
"That tiny orange starlight
On the dark shore of Nevermore.
Wait, Pet, let Ishmael go."
And the Southern Flight waited too,
Hovering in the starry night.
Ishmael's Black Dragon, Beryl,
Alighted beside Petra's
Driftwood fire on the black sand beach,
And Ishmael ran to Petra
And held her in his arms.
"How?" Ishmael asked,
"Oh!" said Petra,
"Mermaids rescued me, Chief!"
And the Ebony Dolphins
Laughed in the phosphorescent waves.

DolphinWords

Note: reference Dolphin rescues...and earlier BDT poem Menu...

:)

DavidDavid