The battles on sea and the battles on land and the laws and the constitutions and the arrogance and the tongues and all the rest have melted away: only the mysteries remain.
Aelius Aristides
We know only this: life is warm.
Adam Zagajewski
1. Metaphors & Possibilities
The unseen populate my every day.
I believe
Pan
is prancing around
on goat hoofs,
inciting mischief
at anti-war rallies.
I sense
Bacchus
in every vineyard;
Dionysius
in every theater;
Siva
camping it up
in nightly grave yards;
Venus
lifting her arms
to every sunrise;
and
YWVH
Allah
and all the others
hovering, hovering
above their respective domes.
I look
in the mirror,
and Hermes
is shifting around
behind me.
I look
to the left
and Charon
is piloting
a dark sedan
down my street;
To the right
and there’s the
Trickster
drinking out of Lake Washington.
I could give you
Terpsichore’s phone number
and you could call her up.
Aphrodite
is another matter
and probably unlisted.
Gods & Goddesses
Sprites & Angels
Furies & Nymphs
Zeus
Demeter
Hades
and…
2. The Girl
Kore
Persephone
daughter of the garden
too young for
the memories
that rise
and rise again
too young
for her secrets.
Persephone
daughter of a goddess
but not yet a goddess.
Persephone
the knowing one
dark
quiet
desired.
3. The Abduction
Hades could stand
poised
on a drifting moment,
or flash
like his brother’s lightning.
His breath
could be sweet,
or it could be
wet ash.
Likewise his touch,
moonlight, or
blistering fire.
Hades
The younger brother.
His domain is
all that follows this
life of ours,
which is to say –
nothing.
On this day,
the girl
stands apart.
Her friends play
at watching flowers
grow in their footsteps.
She wills life
into narcissus
kneels
and reaches out
to its ruffled cup
and lemon blush.
Hades,
the incorporeal
touches her back,
between her thin wings,
“Take the flower,” he says.
The girl hears,
but no sound
disturbs the air.
She hesitates,
and feels a wave of insistence.
“Take the flower.”
When she touches the blossom,
a sky full of stars opens
beneath her hand.
She turns to look
at the snatcher of souls
and gasps at the
emptiness.
He darkens her breath
and eclipses the sun
and they are gone.
Her friends remember owls,
and dark horses.
Her friends remember
a rising wind.
Her friends saw nothing.
It was as if he dissolved,
but she was torn apart.
He felt no struggle,
but she scratched
and clawed.
There was no sound,
though she screamed
for her mother.
Then the cold,
a bone-cracking wraith;
and then
nothing.
4. The Mother
Demeter
original earth mother
straddling life
with
splayed feet
barrel legs
broad hips
big breasts
and
tangled dreads.
Demeter
original
full moon boogie gal
swaying
like tall grass,
no, not grass,
swaying
like a forest.
Demeter
whose barrel legs
squeezed the breath
out of Zeus
as he rode her broad hips
like a prairie rides an earthquake.
And, oh, how she shook him
and shook him loose
it was no surprise
he took their daughter next –
like some dessert course,
and passed her on
to his silent brother.
Demeter
who loved Persephone
like earth loves sky
didn’t see that deal go down
And on that day
Demeter
thrashed
when darkness came
and her daughter did not.
Demeter
bellowed
when morning came
and her daughter did not.
Demeter
wept full boulders
when the nymphs came
and her daughter did not
and as she listened to their story:
Her breath turned to ice
cold crept out from her
and surrounded the girls
She cursed Zeus
and the ground cracked
like so many amphorae
winter spread like spilled wine
time stopped
As anger and loss
froze the earth.
Demeter
as the nymphs
fall asleep
they hear
rock
crack
against
rock:
“Nothing will grow!
Nothing!”
5. Hades, the Place
Some things you know:
It’s where the sullen god makes his home.
And, yes, there is a palace, but it’s made of smoke.
The dog is there, as is the boatman.
There are rivers.
In other ways you’ve been misinformed.
There’s no punishment, only death.
There are neither little devils with horns and tails poking and prodding,
nor big-shot philosopher devils.
No one is reigning rather than serving.
No congress is plotting the ruination of creation.
The place is:
A landscape of negatives,
of half-light, and the gray scale.
Bone-cracking cold
without the pleasure
of bones to crack.
Shades gliding
across huge distances
that hardly matter –
perpetual motion,
but not a breeze
to be felt.
Infinite and dull.
Only the girl has substance.
6. Hades, the Palace
The Dark Lord
had mastered
a pallet of smoke
and brushed a drifting world
onto the thin air of his kingdom.
He prepared a place
that s e e m e d.
Persephone saw her palace
floating
in half light
beside Lethe’s pond
its walls shaded
by Aspen and black poplar.
She walked
obsidian paths
past onyx pillars
and climbed steps
of darkest marble
to the twin thrones
Evening and Dusk.
Hades and his bride
watched rich galaxies
drift past windows
filigreed with gold
and then retired
to a room called
Deepest Night.
Persephone allowed
the Master of Dreams
and then
slept.
He rose
and walked
through the smoke
swirling
around his feet
wondering
how he would keep her.
7. The Little Ice Age
(1300-1850 AD)
Volcanoes erupted with such force, and threw so much ash into the air, the sun and moon were shadowed for years.
Glaciers, those rivers of ice, grew, and their inexorable advance ripped the ground to shreds. The Alpine “Le Bois Glacier” advanced at 360 feet a day – even in August. A Catholic Bishop “exorcised,” the glacier to no effect.
Ice engulfed entire villages.
A new parasite came to be from under the snow and infected the wheat crop. There was no wheat for years to come. Bread was made from tree bark. There were bread riots in the cities.
Harvests failed, livestock died, and humans suffered famine and disease.
The potato was introduced to Europe.
Wolves roamed the tundra bringing down any blood warmth they came across.
Painters developed a new genre of frozen scenes. Rembrandt, and Breughl were practitioners.
Frozen rivers were used as roads.
Ground in Southern England was frozen to over 3 feet in depth.
Hundreds of thousands died in floods.