Fruit
heirloom of nine parts over twelve days (5/6 and 8/9)
but(him)self, o bearer of the silver-bow, lord who throws-from-afar(hekatebolos)Apollo,
at one time(and indeed)across rugged Kynthos you go(you take your way)
(pass)(set out)(run)(get onto, out of, into something)(you go on-board
or disembark)(a ship)(to bestride and protect a fallen friend)(or
to drag the body off)(of an enemy)(you mount a chariot
and stand beside another),
but at another(time, you go)wandering aimlessly around
to shun and flee-from islands and men.
αὐτὸς δ᾽, ἀργυρότοξε, ἄναξ ἑκατηβόλ᾽ Ἄπολλον,
ἄλλοτε μέν τ᾽ ἐπὶ Κύνθου ἐβήσαο παιπαλόεντος,
ἄλλοτε δ᾽ ἂν νήσους τε καὶ ἀνέρας ἠλάσκαζες.
many(o many)to(for)(by)you(are)the temple-dwellings and the woody(with tree-
like markings)groves;
but all(o all)(whole)(get, you)(acquire, you)(possess, you)the lookout-places(hill-
tops)(peaks)and(watch-towers)and(the friends, o friend, by the friend)he
would love the highest(topmost)(outmost)(inmost)headlands(cliffs
and bluffs)of lofty mountains(and lofty asses, well, and lofty mules),
and the(nine)rivers flowing-through(o flowing)into the sea;
πολλοί τοι νηοί τε καὶ ἄλσεα δενδρήεντα:
πᾶσαι δὲ σκοπιαί τε φίλαι καὶ πρώονες ἄκροι
ὑψηλῶν ὀρέων ποταμοί θ᾽ ἅλαδε προρέοντες:
but you(to)(for)by Delos, o Phoibos(bright, radiant, pure), you most delight
and gladden, cheer, make content the(etor)heart(life-passion),
ἀλλὰ σὺ Δήλῳ, Φοῖβε, μάλιστ᾽ ἐπιτέρπεαι ἦτορ,
(as Odysseus, even in the midst of his tall-tale, admits of ships
driven by oars, and wars, and throwing spears and arrows, o dyad-
mournful(sorry)(good-for-nothing)(wretched)(painful)things,
which by others at least become horrible, nevertheless,
those things(to)(for)by him, is(the)beloved, which somehow the god
had put there, in his phrenes(heart-breast-perception-memory-
desire-anger-inward-thought); for different men(he men-
splains, as he lies)take joy in different works.
ἀλλά μοι αἰεὶ νῆες ἐπήρετμοι φίλαι ἦσαν
καὶ πόλεμοι καὶ ἄκοντες ἐΰξεστοι καὶ ὀϊστοί,
λυγρά, τά τ᾽ ἄλλοισίν γε καταριγηλὰ πέλονται.
αὐτὰρ ἐμοὶ τὰ φίλ᾽ ἔσκε τά που θεὸς ἐν φρεσὶ θῆκεν:
ἄλλος γάρ τ᾽ ἄλλοισιν ἀνὴρ ἐπιτέρπεται ἔργοις.
Odyssey 14.224)
there(to)(for)by you the Ionians with their trailing tunics gather together
their(him)selves with children and with worthy
and venerable bed-partners and wives.
ἔνθα τοι ἑλκεχίτωνες Ἰάονες ἠγερέθονται
αὐτοῖς σὺν παίδεσσι καὶ αἰδοίῃς ἀλόχοισιν.
(as black Ajax and red Ajax would never take their stand apart, on
the battlefield at Troy, not even a little; but as, into the fallow land,
wine-dyad-dark-oxen(fixed-together-plough in equal-thumos-spirit-
power-drive)both-bearing(carrying)(bringing)they stretch(stretch,
you!)and bend(bend it!)and draw-it-out(you, do that too!)
the fixed-together-plough;
but, there and then, on both sides, from their under-end-most-horns
much sweat gushes(so you two, spout)forth;
and they-two(indeed)the polished-yoke-alone-apart-it-works(it bars
the way)(youre worked)(youre barred)dyad-releasing(letting go,
hurling, throwing, sending, letting flow and spouting forth)through-
and-against the furrow;
but(it)overtakes(reaches)(finds)(will-be-accomplishing)(arise,
you!)the limit of the earths arable land;
so they-two, beside-both-standing, beside-both-passing-beyond,
beside-both-transgressing, exceedingly they make their stand,
(to)(for)(by)(belonging)an-other-to-the-one.
Αἴας δ᾽ οὐκέτι πάμπαν Ὀϊλῆος ταχὺς υἱὸς
ἵστατ᾽ ἀπ᾽ Αἴαντος Τελαμωνίου οὐδ᾽ ἠβαιόν,
ἀλλ᾽ ὥς τ᾽ ἐν νειῷ βόε οἴνοπε πηκτὸν ἄροτρον
ἶσον θυμὸν ἔχοντε τιταίνετον: ἀμφὶ δ᾽ ἄρά σφι
πρυμνοῖσιν κεράεσσι πολὺς ἀνακηκίει ἱδρώς:
τὼ μέν τε ζυγὸν οἶον ἐΰξοον ἀμφὶς ἐέργει
ἱεμένω κατὰ ὦλκα: τέμει δέ τε τέλσον ἀρούρης:
ὣς τὼ παρβεβαῶτε μάλ᾽ ἕστασαν ἀλλήλοιιν.
Iliad 13.701)
but those by boxing(you) and dancing(you) and singing(you),
(they)remembering you(they delight, gladden, and satisfy)with joy,
delight, gladness, and cheer, that they would make their stand(-up-
right, stand-up, rise-up, begin, stand-still, anew)their struggle,
battle, action, assembly, contest, argument, issue — their AGON.
οἱ δέ σε πυγμαχίῃ τε καὶ ὀρχηθμῷ καὶ ἀοιδῇ
μνησάμενοι τέρπουσιν, ὅτ᾽ ἄν στήσωνται ἀγῶνα.
and he(indeed)would say, to be undying and ageless always,
which thereby would come-and-go to meet,
that Ionians altogether-as-a-body
(o all-together, all-at-once)
would very-well-be;
φαίη κ᾽ ἀθανάτους καὶ ἀγήρως ἔμμεναι αἰεί,
ὃς τόθ᾽ ὑπαντιάσει᾽, ὅτ᾽ Ἰάονες ἀθρόοι εἶεν:
for of all would he see grace, favor, beauty, glory, kindness, good-
will, gratitude, gratification, delight, satisfaction; but he would
take pleasure in, enjoy, rejoice, have full enjoyment in, the thumos
and men — (he)(o he)looking into(upon)beholding — and women
with beautiful girdles(and leashes)and swift ships(with ship-like temple-
dwellings)and of swift-selves, their possessions(property, heirlooms,
“the fur coat grandma wore”, you add, and we say sure, and wealth,
estates, farms, fields, vineyards, materials)both-many-and-both.
πάντων γάρ κεν ἴδοιτο χάριν, τέρψαιτο δὲ θυμὸν
ἄνδρας τ᾽ εἰσορόων καλλιζώνους τε γυναῖκας
νῆάς τ᾽ ὠκείας ἠδ᾽ αὐτῶν κτήματα πολλά.
(just as the beautiful girdles, maybe fur coats too, in the fake-wedding, when
Odysseus has newly-burst-forth from his disguise and slaughtered the suitors,
and the old maid wakes-up Penelope, from a very good sleep, to tell her; and it
must be the happiest of all moments in the whole history of human poetry, after
one of terrifying brutality; but Pen doesnt go to him right away; she holds back
her trust, telling their son that they have signs known only by themselves, to prove
they are(to)(for)(by)each other; and Odysseus pretends to hold a wedding,
to distract the Ithakans from the fact he has just butchered their best youth;
or, as he voices-meta-through:
“but we have killed the prop(support)(stay of the city)(the sunken rock,
reef)(bank)(barrow)(that which keeps a ship steady, ballast,
and also earrings, maybe Heras mulberry ones
from yesterday — ),
those great-most-excellent-ones among(young men)the shoots-
and-consequences of satiety, surfeit, and insolence)in Ithaka;
but those, we have ordered you
to consider(purpose, plan, contrive)(perceive,
observe — watch — guard — beware)."
ἡμεῖς δ᾽ ἕρμα πόληος ἀπέκταμεν, οἳ μέγ᾽ ἄριστοι
κούρων εἰν Ἰθάκῃ: τὰ δέ σε φράζεσθαι ἄνωγα.
but Eurynome cleans all the gore from Odysseus so that hes suffused again
with beauty, as when a craftsman gold-overlays-on-silver; so we again can see
his locks of hair-hung-down like purple hyacinth; so-looking-immortal goes he
to meet Penelope; he calls her strange, she calls him strange; then she tests him,
by telling the maid to bring his bed; and Odysseus proves himself, by saying, you
cant do that, as we made our own bed, so we know it very well; especially by one
particular feature, which only he could accomplish; which was, he built it from
a living tree, roots in the ground; Pen melts into tears and asks him forgive-
ness; Pen-splaining, the jealous gods gave them misery based on how happy
they would have been together, throughout their youth; but there are many men
who would have tried to deceive her, and thats why she has to test him; Pen-
splaining-further, that neither would Helen have gone with Paris, and become
the center of the Trojan war, had she not been so deceived; from which we may
conclude, that she tests him, as taking such precautions now, against
ever being the woman
at the center
of a war;
and then he appears, to her, as welcome as the land to men who are drowning,
and she couldnt let him go from her white-armed, like Heras, earths, embrace;
and Athena holds back time, so that they have enough of it, for tears, for hugs,
for conversation, and Od tells Pen about his sign; until the old-maid Eurynome
dresses their bed for them(probably we should check her out);
but they, as one might put it, “gladly went
together to bed, and their old ritual."
but his voices-meta-through,
“and they(by himself)(by herself)(indeed)thereupon-gladly-welcomed(o gladly-
welcomed ones)of the ancient(couch)bed(lektron)(yous make ancient)(make
it ancient, yous, that which is laid down)(the site, the place)(the rite, the law,
the order)(rule, precept, right)(tribunal,
they)come to walk-about(approach)(reach)(take their way)(visit)(present-
their-self-to)(to come or fall into their hands, approach
as one(we)suppliant, having-reached-home, after
swimming, spinning, and piling-in-
heaps,
their deepmost law
(our zebra-dove)
of peace."
οἱ μὲν ἔπειτα
ἀσπάσιοι λέκτροιο παλαιοῦ θεσμὸν ἵκοντο:
Od. 23.147-296)
but toward this great wonder, of which the rumour(report, fame, glory)never
will it perish(come to an end)(die)(be lost)(undone)(in a state of)(ruin),
those girls(maidens)(nymphs)(daughters)(puppets)(dolls)(pupils of
the eye)(in the hieron)(o girls), who as women we call the Deliades,
of the far-shooting-one, are the handmaids(o handmaids)(dwellings);
cf Phaedrus
πρὸς δὲ τόδε μέγα θαῦμα, ὅου κλέος οὔποτ᾽ ὀλεῖται,
κοῦραι Δηλιάδες, ἑκατηβελέταο θεράπναι:
and those(shes)since(you are already following the dyad-word-song)there
and then, the first(o first)indeed(on the one hand)Apollo(they)would sing
(celebrate, commemorate, make famous, tell over and over again, recite,
repeat, harp upon(him),
)but(on the other hand)back again, anew, in turn,
hereafter, again further(bow wow)(aouuu)
Leto and(indeed)Artemis, pourer-forth-of-arrows,
αἵ τ᾽ ἐπεὶ ἂρ πρῶτον μὲν Ἀπόλλων᾽ ὑμνήσωσιν,
αὖτις δ᾽ αὖ Λητώ τε καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ἰοχέαιραν,
(o shes)remembering(him)and of men(o rearing-up)(rearing)(the rearing-
up into manhood)and of old age(o ageing)(ageing)(the ageing)and
of women(they)sing the hymn,
but(they)work upon by spells and enchantment(bewitch)(charm)(spell-bind)(work
upon by wiles)(cajole)(beguile, deceive, cheat)(charm, delight, ravish)
(by hims-and-theys-enchanting)
the tribes(races, classes, swarms, nations)(of tribes races, classes,
swarms, nations)(by tribes, races, classes, swarms,
nations)of human beings.
μνησάμεναι ἀνδρῶν τε παλαιῶν ἠδὲ γυναικῶν
ὕμνον ἀείδουσιν, θέλγουσι δὲ φῦλ᾽ ἀνθρώπων.
from hymn 3 to Apollo
fog of nine parts over twelve days (4/9)
thus(she)spake; but rejoice(and hail)Delos, and exchanging
and replying(o replying)(o returning-braiding)she was(amoebeing . . .
o holy-mogis-pos-will-be-mother, the whole fog-)voicing-through;
ὣς φάτο: χαῖρε δὲ Δῆλος, ἀμειβομένη δὲ προσηύδα:
Leto, most-glorious daughter of great Koios(you would mark)(you
would cry)(indeed-methinks-i-finally-do — by the dog, shes weaving-
all-nighters, for two — through four, or more — yet, still —
Λητοῖ, κυδίστη θύγατερ μεγάλου Κοίοιο,
)gladly-welcomed, i, at least, would receive(i would bring
to light)your offspring(seed)(generation)(birth)(they were, i am
bringing forth, to bring forth)from-afar the(HEKATOS)lord;
for horribly(dreadful stories)true(o truthful one)(i)(truthful)am bad-
wailing-(war-death-harpy)-sounding(to)(for)by men; and thus,
(we)honored-all-around(we)
would i become.
ἀσπασίη κεν ἐγώ γε γονὴν ἑκάτοιο ἄνακτος
δεξαίμην: αἰνῶς γὰρ ἐτήτυμόν εἰμι δυσηχὴς
ἀνδράσιν: ὧδε δέ κεν περιτιμήεσσα γενοίμην.
but this(word-song)(i)tremble, o Leto, (o this)word-song, nor will(i)
conceal(this word-song)(from)you(who are concealed(in this));
for(overly)(will be twanged)they say, some(hubristic)Apollo(overly)
reckless, uncaring, foolish, ruinous and ungovernable(like
too many, too eager suitors)(overly)(will
be twanged)will be,
and loudly-bigly-will-willfuly-hold-political-sway amongst immortals
and(indeed)for mortals(who)liable-to-death(know neither ships,
with their date-palm-bellies-swelling-fat-purple-pink, nor
the balancing of scales — Athenai, represent —
)upon spelt-giving land.
ἀλλὰ τόδε τρομέω, Λητοῖ, ἔπος, οὐδέ σε κεύσω:
λίην γάρ τινά φασιν ἀτάσθαλον Ἀπόλλωνα
ἔσσεσθαι, μέγα δὲ πρυτανευσέμεν ἀθανάτοισι
καὶ θνητοῖσι βροτοῖσιν ἐπὶ ζείδωρον ἄρουραν.
for those, then and there, horribly(i, Penelope-testing, do)fear,
both through(against)phren(tummy-heart-centered-wits-waiting)
and against(through)thumos(breath-spirit-savage-tasting-heart —
as if I don’t remember clearly (as 6 + 3) the last time —
and one year later (that makes 4) —
and with that fucking oar —
how you left us,
before,
again,
)lest whenever the first time he would see(youd be seen, by sheen
of metal)(by ships-timber-tree)light(o daylight)(fire-in-his-eyes-
bright)(a way out)(delight, deliverance, victory, glory)(the dark-
ring)(if somewhere he still lives)(he sees his other one)(around
a nipple)(areola)(black from Hades, unseen)(by the hole)of the sun,
τῷ ῥ᾽ αἰνῶς δείδοικα κατὰ φρένα καὶ κατὰ θυμόν,
μή, ὁπότ᾽ ἂν τὸ πρῶτον ἴδῃ φάος ἠελίοιο,
and dishonoring(you dishonor)(her, again)
the island(as before, will be swimming
and spinning and piling-
up-unwoven string,
in heaps —
o MUSE, sing me the woman
who was ever allowed
to count, OUTLOUD —
)since(you approach the dyad-word-song, are you)really(or)
(i was surely, he said)hard-rocky-grounded(home)(i)am —
by feet(by husbanding)(id over-)turn(and twisting)down(catastrophe)
against(trampling-on, ruining)he would thrust(nail-head, youd
be thrusted)(by thrusting)into the salty-grey sea —
νῆσον ἀτιμήσας, ἐπεὶ ἦ κραναήπεδός εἰμι,
ποσσὶ καταστρέψας ὤσῃ ἁλὸς ἐν πελάγεσσιν,
and now, there(he is)(they are)(he comes and goes)(and come
and go, he says, to me, in the imperative, of)my own self —
(on the one hand)the great(swollen)wave(o flood)(my pregnancy)
(down)against(through)my head(face)(skull)in crowds(aplenty)
(enough)always, it would wash(dash) — (surge) — over(my sanity) —
(on the other hand)he will arrive on(me)the other earth,
who would please(youd be pleased, youd take pleasure, by)him, (me)
to be made(prepared and performed-as)the temple(ship-like)dwelling
and hallowed-wooded(with tree-like markings)groves(of green) —
ἔνθ᾽ ἐμὲ μὲν μέγα κῦμα κατὰ κρατὸς ἅλις αἰεὶ
κλύσσει: ὃ δ᾽ ἄλλην γαῖαν ἀφίξεται, ἥ κεν ἅδῃ οἱ,
τεύξασθαι νηόν τε καὶ ἄλσεα δενδρήεντα:
o(his)polypodes(slime-suckered, skin-(g)ripping things)in my-own-self!
(so protean, he would throw-up)lurking-places(cavities)(lairs)(of a cave-
grave)(the pores of sponges)(nostrils)(recesses in my brain-
bone)and murky seals(o dark seals)(by
the slickening-sea-dog . . .
πουλύποδες δ᾽ ἐν ἐμοὶ θαλάμας φῶκαί τε μέλαιναι
)they will make houses(palaces)(dyad-dwellings)(unburied)uncared-for,
(sisters-)in-lack(ing bedding, spider-webbings-wedding)(just like
you left Argos, of the patient heart, but)of people(d audience,
people-responsibilities, people-needs, left
sisters-in-stones —
οἰκία ποιήσονται ἀκηδέα, χήτεϊ λαῶν.
from hymn 3 to Apollo
cf Homers Odyssey
4.404(seals of Proteus)
5.432(polypodon thalames)
16.35(spider web bedding)
16.86(hubris of suitors)
17.292(Argos talasiphronos)
20.207(ever if he still lives)
23.273(Pen and the sign)
Iliad 2.548(Athenianships)
etc.
fog of nine parts over twelve days (1/6)
by what means, then, will i sing you, in all ways being(o being)well-sung?
for everywhere by you, Phoibos, the laws(customs)(melodies)have been thrown — (cast)
(hurled)(struck)(tumbled)(let fall)of the song, across
both the calf(maiden)-nourishing mainland and the islands;
πῶς τ᾽ ἄρ σ᾽ ὑμνήσω πάντως εὔυμνον ἐόντα;
πάντη γάρ τοι, Φοῖβε, νόμοι βεβλήατ᾽ ἀοιδῆς,
ἠμὲν ἀν᾽ ἤπειρον πορτιτρόφον ἠδ᾽ ἀνὰ νήσους:
but all the lookout-peaks(chosen by you, i)delighted you and the sharply-projecting ridges
of the lofty mountains(will be awakening you)and the rivers flowing toward the sea
and the steep banks(o)having(bending)(giving-way)(reclining)(sloping)
(resting)into the brine and the harbors of the sea.
πᾶσαι δὲ σκοπιαί τοι ἅδον καὶ πρώονες ἄκροι
ὑψηλῶν ὀρέων ποταμοί θ᾽ ἅλαδε προρέοντες
ἀκταί τ᾽ εἰς ἅλα κεκλιμέναι λιμένες τε θαλάσσης.
as(really)(or)(it said)(was it i)Leto gave birth(give birth, you)to you first, o joy
for mortals, leaning(sloping)(wandering)(straying)(lain-
down)against mount Kynthos into the rugged island,
into flow-surrounded Delos?
but on either side the dark wave(o pregnancy)(swollen)(the surge)(the flood)
was coming forth onto the dry(barren)land by shrill-blowing winds;
from there, letting loose and away, you lord over all the deathbound.
ἦ ὥς σε πρῶτον Λητὼ τέκε, χάρμα βροτοῖσι,
κλινθεῖσα πρὸς Κύνθου ὄρος κραναῇ ἐνὶ νήσῳ,
Δήλῳ ἐν ἀμφιρύτῃ; ἑκάτερθε δὲ κῦμα κελαινὸν
ἐξῄει χέρσονδε λιγυπνοίοις ἀνέμοισιν,
ἔνθεν ἀπορνύμενος πᾶσι θνητοῖσιν ἀνάσσεις.
as many as Krete holds(you are held, in the glass pumpkin)within herself,
and the people of Athens, and the island Aigina, and famous-for-her-ships
Euboia, and the Aigai, the Peiresiai and the coastal Peparethos,
and Thracian Athos and the highest mountain tops(o peaks)of Pelion,
and Thracian Samos of Ida and(o the shady hillsides of)the highlands,
ὅσσους Κρήτη τ᾽ ἐντὸς ἔχει καὶ δῆμος Ἀθηνῶν
νῆσός τ᾽ Αἰγίνη ναυσικλειτή τ᾽ Εὔβοια,
Αἰγαί, Πειρεσίαι τε καὶ ἀγχιάλη Πεπάρηθος
Θρηίκιός τ᾽ Ἀθόως καὶ Πηλίου ἄκρα κάρηνα
Θρηικίη τε Σάμος Ἴδης τ᾽ ὄρεα σκιόεντα,
and Skyros and Phokaia and(o)the sheer height of(papyrus-poetries)
Autokanes, of well-founded Imbros and fog-enveloped Lemnos,
and exceedingly-holy Lesbos, and the Aiolian seat of Makar,
and Chios, (she)who, among islands, is the most brilliant(fertile)(fruit-
ful)(unctuous)(shining)(sleek)(smooth)and anointed in the salty-sea, lies
outstretched(uncared for)(idle)(unburied)(or sleeping)(yet hope flickers),
Σκῦρος καὶ Φώκαια καὶ Αὐτοκάνης ὄρος αἰπύ,
Ἴμβρος τ᾽ εὐκτιμένη καὶ Λῆμνος ἀμιχθαλόεσσα
Λέσβος τ᾽ ἠγαθέη, Μάκαρος ἕδος Αἰολίωνος,
καὶ Χίος, ἣ νήσων λιπαρωτάτη εἰν ἁλὶ κεῖται,
and craggy Mimas and the highest mountain tops(o peaks)of Korykos
and moonlit-radiant Klaros and(o)the sheer height of(earth-destiny)Aisagees,
and watery-moist Samos and the steep mountains(o peaks)of Mykale,
and Miletos and Kos, the city of Meropes(mortal)human beings,
παιπαλόεις τε Μίμας καὶ Κωρύκου ἄκρα κάρηνα
καὶ Κλάρος αἰγλήεσσα καὶ Αἰσαγέης ὄρος αἰπὺ
καὶ Σάμος ὑδρηλὴ Μυκάλης τ᾽ αἰπεινὰ κάρηνα
Μίλητός τε Κόως τε, πόλις Μερόπων ἀνθρώπων,
and steeply-situated Knidos and wind-swept Karpathos,
Naxos and also Paros and Rhenaia, with her cliffs exposed,
and over and across all of it, suffering pangs of childbirth, Leto was coming-
arriving-befallen(befalling)by(Hekebolos)casting-from-afar,
whether any would be willing-found-dwelling for(by)
her child of earths.
καὶ Κνίδος αἰπεινὴ καὶ Κάρπαθος ἠνεμόεσσα
Νάξος τ᾽ ἠδὲ Πάρος Ῥήναιά τε πετρήεσσα,
τόσσον ἔπ᾽ ὠδίνουσα Ἑκηβόλον ἵκετο Λητώ,
εἴ τίς οἱ γαιέων υἱεῖ θέλοι οἰκία θέσθαι.
from hymn 3 to Apollo
🌖
fog of nine parts over twelve days (1/9)
(i)(from-afar)shall remember and in no way(o threshold,
o way)would (i) escape the notice of Apollo(hekatos)from-afar,
the one whom, when going and coming(o gods)(she would run)(shine,
gleam)(contemplate)through the house(build, you)(she builds)(i
build)of Zeus, the gods tremble(by trembling)(going and coming);
and there and then(i will snarl)(easy)(i will sprinkle water)they
spring up(by darting up)(eagerly)near-to the coming and going,
all(o all)from their seats, when(she)stretches(and strains)out
the shining(radiant)(glistening)(famous)(phaidrean)(rain)bows.
μνήσομαι οὐδὲ λάθωμαι Ἀπόλλωνος ἑκάτοιο,
ὅντε θεοὶ κατὰ δῶμα Διὸς τρομέουσιν ἰόντα:
καί ῥά τ᾽ ἀναΐσσουσιν ἐπὶ σχεδὸν ἐρχομένοιο
πάντες ἀφ᾽ ἑδράων, ὅτε φαίδιμα τόξα τιταίνει.
but Leto alone stays(stay, you)beside delights-in-the-thunderbolt Zeus,
and she there and then(the bow)(living)(o living)(they lived)(living)(life)
let loose(and released)and shut(and enclosed)the quiver and bow,
Λητὼ δ᾽ οἴη μίμνε παραὶ Διὶ τερπικεραύνῳ,
ἥ ῥα βιόν τ᾽ ἐχάλασσε καὶ ἐκλήισσε φαρέτρην,
and(she)taking them from the wowow shoulders by the hands(taking)
(rain)bows suspends(hangs)up(down)towards the pillar of its father
of the peg(phallus)of gold; but(she)seats him, into the(herb)throne,
(she)(leading)(fetching)(bringing)(carrying)(guiding)(commanding)
(drawing out)(and describing)(holding as an event)(and celebrating)
(weighing down a scale)(with a certain weight)and taking for herself.
καί οἱ ἀπ᾽ ἰφθίμων ὤμων χείρεσσιν ἑλοῦσα
τόξα κατεκρέμασε πρὸς κίονα πατρὸς ἑοῖο
πασσάλου ἐκ χρυσέου: τὸν δ᾽ ἐς θρόνον εἷσεν ἄγουσα.
by(it)then the father gives(offers)(grants)nectar(by)the vessel of gold
showing(manifesting)the beloved child; and then the other daimones
thereupon sit down; and the mistress-lady Leto rejoices,
because(she)gave birth to the(rain)bow-bearing and(mighty)steadfast child.
τῷ δ᾽ ἄρα νέκταρ ἔδωκε πατὴρ δέπαϊ χρυσείῳ
δεικνύμενος φίλον υἱόν: ἔπειτα δὲ δαίμονες ἄλλοι
ἔνθα καθίζουσιν: χαίρει δέ τε πότνια Λητώ,
οὕνεκα τοξοφόρον καὶ καρτερὸν υἱὸν ἔτικτε.
rejoice, O blessed Leto, since you gave birth to two glorious children,
Apollo the lord and Artemis of the pouring-forth-(poison?)-arrows,
the one in Ortygia, the other in rugged Delos, (o she)having(bending)(giving-
way)(reclining)(resting)toward the great mountain and Kynthian riverbank,
the most-nearly-like the palm tree(phoenix)(red-purple)(a sticky date),
on the flows of the river-fountain Inopoio.
χαῖρε, μάκαιρ᾽ ὦ Λητοῖ, ἐπεὶ τέκες ἀγλαὰ τέκνα,
Ἀπόλλωνά τ᾽ ἄνακτα καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ἰοχέαιραν,
τὴν μὲν ἐν Ὀρτυγίῃ, τὸν δὲ κραναῇ ἐνὶ Δήλῳ,
κεκλιμένη πρὸς μακρὸν ὄρος καὶ Κύνθιον ὄχθον,
ἀγχοτάτω φοίνικος, ἐπ᾽ Ἰνωποῖο ῥεέθροις.
from hymn 3 to Apollo
just fruit
here boy
here boy
its just fruit
this is what you want
dont be ashamed
dont turn it off
your daddys nearby
theres nothing to fear
nobody even
to break a law
why not come through
and come here for me
show me power
show me milk
show me honey
here boy
here boy
its just fruit
//
but what(why) not
(you) show-off the youth for me
(you) (beauty)call(ing) (him) here
for not even (if) somehow if yet
he was happening being younger
(would it be) shameful (if)
(they were)(he was)i was(saying)
for him(self) to dialogue for us
at least opposite you
being at once (his) (turn-on)trustee and cousin
ἀλλὰ τί οὐκ
ἐπέδειξάς μοι τὸν νεανίαν
καλέσας δεῦρο
οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄν που εἰ ἔτι
ἐτύγχανε νεώτερος ὤν
αἰσχρὸν ἂν
ἦν
αὐτῷ διαλέγεσθαι ἡμῖν
ἐναντίον γε σοῦ
ἐπιτρόπου τε ἅμα καὶ ἀνεψιοῦ ὄντος
155α
tendrils in a warm pumpkin patch
dancing is bondage in freedom
my feet belong (to you, to you)
my eyes belong (also to you)
so that they and i were (glutting ourselves)
having been struck out (of ourselves)
having been thrown into bewilderment
my feet belong (to you, to you)
my eyes belong (only to you)
my ears are the shape of secrets
when he was entering
//
οὕτως ἐκπεπληγμένοι τε καὶ τεθορυβημένοι ἦσαν
ἡνίκ᾽ εἰσῄει
//
changed “seemed” to
“appeared” for ephane
cakewalk wyrm
fully here, Scorpio on fire, desire
that leash, your name, the tether-flame to tie
me to it, body to my well, the tight-
rope pulling is a verdant death-rape game
of a gemstone-encrusted whether force
recoiling howl inside a leather word
inside the naked thing, and the wing will
be tipped, he will enter the gymnasium
a gnawing question, hour, what is a who
without the hollow, willing, who is the what
without a whip, feather, let my lip
suck it out, daddy, let my nerve drip
and swerving slip the girl awake, winner
enough to make her winter-tender bowl
sing, never his song enough, ever
the pelvis for a manifest parade
to lead a pussy through the willow, dance
me round the mountain, wind-out of a plum
prison, iamb virgin, i am vision
iamb-submission of a cakewalk wyrm
//
but (he) is
(i am) (they are) i say
who and of whom (or what)
ἔστιν δέ
ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ
τίς τε καὶ τοῦ
154α
witch piece cake
in skin prick, i fly across oceans
arrive on the lotus-letters island
of the long-lost highland kingdom
stir and spell a terrible journey
through holy wood by central castling.
to announce my flawless fingers
persuade his drawbridges lowered
which were guarded by a giantess
and cross over the lava moat.
with clean hair only do we enter
the dragon reception, a masque
of marbles clouds and berries.
here is where i will eat out
the remainder of my salad days
sweetly, sing the saffron rage of birds.
with which natural-born prince
whisper in the quartz crystal ball
an uncomplicated lover, yes —
of inexhaustible grief and faith
in these wettest, wildest dreams.
but it appears to me
indeed he
(himself) nearly
already (pleasures)
perhaps
to be
approaching —
//
tasty vs stinky
if the (un)father(ing) flew
a pulpy, creamy poem
to feather they were not
a man, what then would
i eat for dessert?
being care-
ful of the spikes —
and mind-
ful of the blast radius —
a durian
released by my small hands,
to share between my friends.
frozen, blended custard; topped
with darkness (chocolate) crackling.
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
nor
for you wishing (boulomai)
to be unnoticed (lanthanein) by others
(is it) similarly (homoios)
powerful (dunatos)
// 234ξ
οὔτε σοὶ βουλομένῳ τοὺς ἄλλους λανθάνειν ὁμοίως δυνατόν
//
feet
a visit with the donkey of Rabi'a al-'Adawiya
if the world would like to hear how Rabi’a
gained courage or her strange immunity
to fear, for friendship, i would explain. yet,
a friend is not a purveyor of shallots; nor
pinned apples, by the donkey’s tale. her debt
of tears she brought with her most carefully.
this baggage carries me, her dogged ass;
my nag for recollection married with
my nap of opportunity. fresh dates
don’t pluck a prophet from the fetching tree.
a footfelt softness is velvet delivery
under her bending limb, and broken news
is armor. what teeming droplets, but by winter?
what is the desert, if not her country of birth?
what is her coin, if not the cake she gives
right back, the moment she has tasted worth.
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
and not as many as
will enjoy the gain (apo-lauein)
of your season (hora)
but those who will give after (meta-didonai)
of their own goods (ton spheteron agathon)
to one born older (presbuteroi genomenoi)
// 234α
οὐδὲ ὅσοι τῆς σῆς ὥρας ἀπολαύσονται
ἀλλ᾽ οἵτινες πρεσβυτέρῳ γενομένῳ τῶν σφετέρων ἀγαθῶν μεταδώσουσιν
//
in this, changed “dense” to “rich”.
have also reworked the (tricky)
first few lines of the Lysias speech.
ngaji for beginners
toss your compost out the window here
and wake to find a garden of impassables.
the rainy season, barely holding on, nurses
refuse; i think the earth cant help itself.
of course i arrived on an airplane of garbage
along with other harbingers of the end
of the island. i remember motorbike rides
across the sawah during the pandemic,
when it was sinking in how forever i was
here; the tropical scene windswept and quiet,
the people returning to their villages
to farm; it felt as if everyone was home.
back then, we couldnt mampir yet
and i didnt know that if you let a chili grow
it can live for years; it can become a little caterpillar-
munched tree, studded with flaming-hot fruit.
our neighbors treat me like Princess Di.
it doesnt help that i am shy; when we try
to take a walk, we end up seated, with coffee,
small-talk and gossip peppered with serious
conversation; which is my husbands work.
he cultivates connection, setting down
our roots, as i behold, just stupefied
by the spongey texture of community.
and then, i watch out of the corner of
my eye; i fall asleep amidst rotations of rice
and peanuts, tomatoes blushing on the vine
with fields of corn and sugarcane, rows
of marigolds and magenta gomphrena,
patches of green mustard and frilly cabbage,
near densely-shaded thickets of coffee and cacao.
i would absorb the pace of those in steady
negotiation with the sky, and what it gives
the terraced land, absorbing what it can,
for what it gives us — and by my daily plate,
it gives me very, very much.
and too, i read an article about a strong El Niño,
and one about the AMOC shutting down,
and news of friends in Denpasar, their flooded
houses and kos kosans; and always stuck
in traffic, in service to dollars, rubles, yuan,
the concrete surface spreading ever closer.
the village priest asks to send his daughter
to me, so she can practice her English.
of course, i say, let her come, frozen inside
with something like a knot that i cant name.
so im old enough (for here) to be a grandmother
but all the children say i look like Elsa.
so i let them see me picking up plastic,
and in the dirt, on my hands and knees, digging
up peanuts. it used to be my daily task
to ask the young, what is justice?
these days i find my figure lined and lit
inquiring at the city of necessity, ex-
perimenting with my best friends hair — ngaji.
so how shall i explain this, and to whom?
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
yet if it is necessary (chre)
to gratify (charizesthai) most
the ones most lacking (deomenoi)
it is also fitting (prosekein) for the others
to make well (eu poieein)
not the best ones (beltistos)
but the ones most at an impasse (a-porotatoi)
// 233δ
ἔτι δὲ εἰ χρὴ τοῖς δεομένοις μάλιστα χαρίζεσθαι
προσήκει καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις
μὴ τοὺς βελτίστους ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀπορωτάτους εὖ ποιεῖν
Ophelia revisited
my grief remains for the flowers, the herbs,
the growth habits i learned to recognize,
the pungent smells of bruised leaves, and
a lake with which i had grown familiar. only
with hesitation do i crush a sprig of rosemary.
the plants and seasons here are different.
i try not to use Latinate species names, or
the determinacy of words to describe life, as
a guest. sometimes it seems inevitable, and
i contribute to the loss already underway.
nothing is more miraculous than a human
body. becoming container for the self-strange,
unbecoming as that may be, mine followed me
here, reiterating its lesson without the black-
clad metaphor: no entry gained by force, beyond
barest survival. and the last time you
came begging here; when her hand was offered
to mine in marriage, now as i was candlelit royalty
in a fortress built of aging apples; the last time i
invited forth the rampaging fourth wall, to cross
the threshold of my door, to hold the iffy
soliloquy of me; would be the last time for
it all. no other help to meet the human
who doesn’t make and keep a home to serve
the stranger, the migrant, the nameless refugee.
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
primarily not
to present-being (pareimi)
pleasure (hedone)
(for you)
will i together-be (suneimi)
(with you)
attending (therapeuein)
but to lingering-doing (mellein)
help (opheleia)
to-be (esesthai)
by you
// 233β
πρῶτον μὲν οὐ τὴν παροῦσαν ἡδονὴν
θεραπεύων συνέσομαί
σοι
ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν ὠφελίαν ἔσεσθαι
//
photo from April 2019
stranger like desire
you will come
into the desert
to know me
you will touch me like a stranger
as many strokes
as many surfaces
as many names
as many hungry palms
as your servant can carry
so empty this
your lick across the burning sand
electricity of my thirst
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
you will come (hekein)
into difference (diaphora)
with them
// 232δ
ἥξεις αὐτοῖς εἰς διαφοράν
//
red (palm) sugar
you will come
into the dessert
to taste them
you will eat fried plantains
ripened until soft and sweet
crunchy with red sugar
too hot for wasted time
i almost burn my tongue
flesh tender and yellow
greasy fingers with coconut
oil and sticky lips
but did you really
//
iced kepo
iced kepo is freshly-squeezed
orange juice with just-cracked
coconut water over ice
on a hot
day before the rain
comes
maybe the traffics religion is
theres something superficial
about s-e-x
//
(kepo also means gossip)
//
🌔
//
prayer for puasa
the hardest thing for my puasa
and i still struggle with it
is not the hunger — i have been made
perhaps too comfortable with hunger
but its the eating again
its my takjil classic impasse
its the opening of my daily fast
and it would break me every time
my very body would refuse
my hardened lips just wouldnt soften
my sharpened teeth just wouldnt chew
my strangled throat just wouldnt swallow
so sitting parched-mouth after sunset
before my three precious dates
how angrily would i demand the cause
my why and what am i myself against
my self surrendered in survival
my self surrendered in nourishment
my self surrendered to the sunless day
my self surrendered to the slow care of the moon
and surely there remain deeper hungers
and surely colder winters to come
but Lord — please let me not refuse
your mercy when the spring appears
//
lipsblum and parfum ooze
the cherries fell and placed their fingerprints
between my feet like small mouths of a month
of its here its a bloody wee well of a red whale
her fluke-petals strewn long the grey and white tile
and smudge of a moth in the blossoms to clear
but im always her hem and im on the sore brink
of love with the let-jet and inky-bruise style of it
like my pussy would write her own un-willing book
would underwear-stain me an avant-garde blotch
of enfant terrible for primordial brood
elsewhere wind-egg dramatic and lithe acrobatic
some brown-wise residuum to raging en rouge
sex-flowing battle and kiss-knowing cramp
my blew-brewing worm of verbage vole-damp
a crescendo howled in my bowling-ball clamp
and how you offered to switch off the lamp
so i wouldnt need to move at all
so i lie lust-fallow-unfastened at last for now
and i shower near the violet melati that you grow
with slugs softly tucked in a wet toilet paper roll
//
🌖
//
after
the easy way out
saucy
like a bruise
cherry
&c
& the maskmaker
who called lip balm that
purple fast
you caught me on your pleasureline yesterday
a warning on the sounding sea-bruise of night
at the global brink of your vaporous flight
into the tiniest vessel of my flecked resistance
and what would my hydrogen-burning father think
when my limbs shudder to lie next to yours
when i slide my fingers across the plum-skin sky
my rose-thread-hooked by your star ungoverning me
who steals the scene from the full face of the moon
who steals my dream to die until another spring
i am awoke at noon by iambs falling like the rain
like pain or like war until the poem is written about it
until the martyr says i was just a child in love
and now you will repeat my morning for me
//
🌕
katabasis on an intact plum
as the violence of my storm
on the exquisite valley like a stem-snapped blade
draws her meandering twin
along the vein of your virginity
by whose volcanic seam the black
and greening scar is welded between
rivers
until the bottom of her exhalation
where dreams our deepest lake
(orchards of wantlessness)
//
takjil classic
my mind is frantic
in the hour before sunset
when the annunciation pangs
i hunted double by the fangs of love
am drawn cold into the pit of hunger
so i pace your perimeter like a wolf
i trace the confines of my sensate cell
then burning captive as the passing sun
and growing tidal as the shadows long
now soon again is never times enough
i dont know what takes hold of me
when i press your body to the earth
when i am the salivating predator
as fingers ten my teeth and tongue
as sticky sweet your parted pliable
to taste the heart deferred
three medjool dates
//
🌓
inhuman allusion (where)
in shredded shadow hums her corners beastly nerve
end-hounding at the anklets of my wandering
by prowling tigers milk and heat evisceral
cuts lip to tongue amnesiacs re-hysteried word
stalks fear in what like a magician i have bound
blush turns like a trick pony shes ground me into
and if there was a choice that voice has been erased
thigh-hollows skittering rush from goose-flesh alter-flight
laughterless laugh to pique the predatory mask
high valleys ridges brimming overrun of rage
down slouching bowels round rapt plum of panic like
the sparrow silent as a fork in my ribcage
and somewhere in this feckled wilderness her heart
is pounding proud and naked by the rivers dark
on the doubled drums of gods anarchic metaphor
//
warm to a thremma
//
adaddy (of lies)
she sings full coverage seashells for sirens
on oceans stews of roiling fatted wine
she forks her sunset locks for nobody
her cockled chains abreast the silvered brine
she quacks and its a salty bouillabaisse
a diddys rouille on croutons midnight crime
she lays to bed adaddy of earthquakes
her morning simmering the sky star-peppered
//
lemon & roses
//
🌘