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
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
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
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
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
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
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'...
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
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
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
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