Snakes
IX.ii. now sleep ( under the armor ) of a swan
ADEIMANTOS: ( hasnt really slept )
but how to transubstantiate these two?
( we stay up too late ) working on poetry.
( we dream in bed at noon ) worked on by poetry.
( what on earth time even are we ? )
SOKRATES: but( the )most( of )them( selves )
( the )one( i - we )wondered( marvelled at )
( admired, honored, worshipped )( the most )
( out of )the many who( which )lie( falsify )( belie ),
μάλιστα δὲ αὐτῶν ἓν ἐθαύμασα τῶν πολλῶν ὧν ἐψεύσαντο,
ADEIMANTOS: ( that shes a staggering girl, caught in his bill ? )
( that she got me some horses to ride on, too . . . )
( that -eve been givn birth ins armor as -ell )
( that she used to sleep with a postcard of a long-lost -
encountered Michelangelo near the bed )
( the terror of it almost ripped, but off ? )
( . . . )
( who comes and goes, we lie in these white rushes
and are kept ) ( they flush her red-stained clothes )
and the blizzard brooding over us would never
allow a lizard near the nest ( may we beauty-call
her breast-of-axe ? ) the countless atmospheres
of winters end, but only when she wants it to
( weve called her Heras arms ) never( self )theless
belying them that wonders him the most:
that we lie ( awake alone ) untouched by him,
that we lie in her palaestra, guarded by countless of them,
OUTIS: never( self )theless( we-)i(-being )
( of the )king opposite( over - against )
( they - we )came( and went )( through )horses
( stallions - mares )( includes a chariot )
and( indeed )( we )kissed( its dyad )knees
( and )seizing( grasping )( capturing them ),
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼ βασιλῆος ἐναντίον ἤλυθον ἵππων
καὶ κύσα γούναθ᾽ ἑλών:
ADEIMANTOS: and with nobodys dyad-heroic grip
we are ( willing the reality to shift )
we are drawn deeper in the river darkening
of some growing protection mantra( -p ),
SOKRATES: this( one )
in which they( we - i )( are )saying
( a song of mourning )( lament )( elegy ),
τοῦτο ἐν ᾧ ἔλεγον
ADEIMANTOS: we are his ( villified, crucified ) destruction:
we are her ( magnified, sanctified ) guardianship:
( and when dark webs, her nape caught in its bill )
we long for you ( the morning to arrive )
as this moment of his-and-hers conception,
OUTIS: ( o )( she-way )( kept me from harm )( safe )( guarded )( pro-
tected )( tended )( as shepherd )( tended )( as maid )
( protected from inclemency )( of weather )( covered-up
the nakedness )( kept back )( detained )( lay in wait
for )( kept watch )( and ward over )( defender as of
a city )( brought out of danger )( saved )( rescued
from troubles )( and in reference to immaterial things )
( held in keeping )( to be the depositary of )( within
the breast )( not to allow me to break out )( kept me
in the mind )( refrained from uttering )( in possession
of )( comprehended )( observed )( carrying out some-
thing resolved upon )( anothers will )( paying constant
attention )( keeping in mind )( arrested
a missile in its course )
( . . . )
( as )( re-middle-voiced-verb )
( . . . )
this(-he )dragged( me )( drew )( pulled )( myself )
( dragging my own body from the fight )( hauled-off )
( drew me away as causing me to quit )( the specified position )
( plucked )( tore at )( the skin from my own bone )( with a view
to demolishing )( pulled about and tore the corpse )( drew me off
the spits )( meat-like )( drew his ship up out of the water )
( dragged down a ship in order to launch her )
( bent and strung and drew his bow )( drew
his sword )( took into his hand the knife )( hoisted )
( ready to weigh )
( . . . )
and( indeed )( both )
( . . . )
showed me mercy( compassion ),
ὁδ᾽ ἐρύσατο καί μ᾽ ἐλέησεν,
ADEIMANTOS: as his-they appears ( with a solution ) for
duplicities of vipers formulae,
his war against her whole embodiment,
the bitterness of stagnant elements,
the left-droppings of its indifferent beak,
the self-harm spectacle they make of her,
without its guardian, by which refuse
of anyone — at all — except with care,
SOKRATES: as( to fall upon )( attack )( lay hands upon )( you )
(-plural )( one ought to proclaim an oracle )( of her )
( one ought to beware )( be discreet )( cautious )
( to take care )( and precautions )( of her )
( one ought to beware of )( pay honour to )( watch
for )( await quietly )( one )must
to be taken hold with care
you( accused - plural ),
ὡς χρῆν ὑμᾶς εὐλαβεῖσθαι
ADEIMANTOS: but ( with an answer ) whose cause resides
in his accused ( in its flame killed ) as apo-trepein rape —
her-keeping-whole his-tearing-him-aparts
( as aitiatike, itself his nom rejects )
how would they make and do, to be took hold
( no sudden blow: the great wings beating ) well?
OUTIS: but on( the )chariot( he-)making me to sit( as for business )
( as )( you put clothes on me )( dresses, suits, shrouds, armour )
to lead( to carry )( to fetch me )( and to bring )
( to carry me as captive for oneself )
( to guide )( to manage )( to educate me )
( to train me )( to draw me out )( let me be drawn )
( to hold )( to celebrate )( to hold account )
( to treat )( believe in me )( to draw
me down )
( . . . )
( as waves )( they break and shiver )( crashed - through )
( and spread - around )
( . . . )
homeward
( . . . )
( the )tear( tears - )pouring( the tear )
( the it - tear )( he - accusative - pouring )( the it - tear ),
(280) ἐς δίφρον δέ μ᾽ ἕσας ἄγεν οἴκαδε δάκρυ χέοντα.
ADEIMANTOS: from all the out-pourings ( just one ) tear
nobody ( accused ) tearing us ( a clear path to follow )
( a trail of tear ) ( as this goats bleeding fearlessness )
nobodys school for celebrated horses
( clear as en - oh ) ( no ),
SOKRATES: lest( by )from( under )me
( you - plural )( would be )deceived
( tricked )( cheated )( beguiled )
( whoopsie ),
μὴ ὑπ᾽ ἐμοῦ ἐξαπατηθῆτε (17β)
ADEIMANTOS: she says ( just follow the steps )
( as to which he says ) lets let it take us well:
we would not reenact a heartless crime,
OUTIS: ( we are )( she says )( he says )( it says )( truly )( or )( eh )
( sometimes maybe he likes to prove it )
even-indeed( to-by-for )me very( dyad-secretly-she )
( the )many( hims )( they - we )rush at( upon )( assault, assail )
( makin frequent swoops )( to-by-for )the ashwood spears,
( he - they )releasing( hurling - sending - letting - go
uttering - letting loose - throwing - shooting - speeding -
hastening - springing - upon - eager - as desiring - )
( kill, you )to kill,
ἦ μέν μοι μάλα πολλοὶ ἐπήϊσσον μελίῃσιν,
ἱέμενοι κτεῖναι—
ADEIMANTOS: sometimes we feed the rowdiest of gulls,
( souvent nous ressemblons à l’albatros )
sometimes we play with gremlins or typhoons,
( his better falsehood weaker strongholds him )
( but not today, william butler yeats )
( her rabies vaccination up to dates )
sometimes it wears the cloth sack of a men
( so mastered baits the brute blood of the air )
as to which we say ( all will be fine ),
SOKRATES: as( of a )fearful( thing )( deinos )
( marvelous, clever, awesome,
strange, horrible, terrible )
( you )( exaggerate terribleness, you )
( we-)being to speak( gather, pick up )
( count, tell, reckon, tell over, say,
command, mean, plead, sing of ),
ὡς δεινοῦ ὄντος λέγειν.
ADEIMANTOS: for which we sacrificed hi-magi-nary cock
( we feed him neath the dyad-mulberry tree )
for which we let ourselves, kid-napped, to wok
( her dragons tears crashed round her fire-core
some years before ) ( those living mares of ocean )
but only his could staunch his brothers pyre
( so letting in its technique with its power )
yet sip by sip the strangers hearts would melt
( this elegy would wind our way as one )
as to which we say ( all will be good ),
OUTIS: for this(-o dyad-god )( she was binding )( bind, you )
( god-needed-bound )( she was in-need )( need, you )
( the dyad-god )( indeed )( must be-)then,
( for )( they had been )conceived of wrath( provoked to anger )
exceedingly( very overmuch )( extraordinarily ),
δὴ γὰρ κεχολώατο λίην—
ADEIMANTOS: go back to sleep now, she says, and sleep well
and when we wake, again as from eternity
for he sleeps true who well well be, be sure
we sleep ( now sleep ) by-from-under the un-
broken day-breaking armor of swan-song
//
from hymn to Apollo
Apologia
Odyssey XIV
VIII.viii ( but what if she weighs ) more ( than a boy can carry? )
ADEIMANTOS: but ( we )( am i? )( being ) a man.
( we sigh ) ( into the whining wind again )
but will they make me q-tips swabbing decks?
or will they make me make their big brass beds?
or will they make me oven cook my heads?
or make me be nobodys chambermaid? o,
no — will she make me diarrhea Bia!?
( o Cardi-being-we, what did she do? )
SOKRATES: and( indeed )( while being beauty- )called
by them( a )star-gazer,
and( an )idle-talker( prater-babbler-on ),
and( indeed )useless( unprofitable, unserviceable ),
by( from-under )the sailors in ships thus thoroughly-
equipped( constructed, framed, maintained, proved,
fabricated, trumped-up, with actual trumpets,
prepared-for-purpose )( having got his asses ready),
μετεωροσκόπον (489α) τε καὶ ἀδολέσχην καὶ ἄχρηστόν σφισι καλεῖσθαι
ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν ταῖς οὕτω κατεσκευασμέναις ναυσὶ πλωτήρων;
ADEIMANTOS: and none of it sounds great
at all. its bound to be ( the little things )
( the accidentally felt indignities )
( the unscheduled tooth extractions )
( that sober him ) its still not me ( until
he doesnt feel like listening anymore
or sharing her or his own ) feelings.
HERA: o unwearying( hard-hearted, self-willed, unflinching-
headstrong-wretched-cruel )( man ) —
σχέτλιε,
ADEIMANTOS: ( its a constant battle )
and they make me say things
( of heavier weight than he knows how )
that seem to carry more meaning
( a trust fall forced ) ( an unjust fist )
they bear the mandate, how?
SAILORS: and( indeed )very( dyad-cryptic ),
καὶ μάλα,
SOKRATES: its possible theyve seen more
( than what has been said ),
and its for a good reason that
SAILORS: the( Adeimantos )fearless prophet
was( singing unfettered, and )saying
ἔφη ὁ Ἀδείμαντος.
SOKRATES: things ( out loud )
without being bound strictly
by his necessity,
ADEIMANTOS: ( aside ) ( did you see
how he made me stretch
the translation? )
( unfair )
HERA: o( man )full-of-many-crafts-devices-wiles-plans-counsels,
ποικιλομῆτα,
SOKRATES: ( o dyad-Zeus ) ( she was not binding )
( dont bind, you ) ( Zeus-not-needed-bound) ( she
was not in-need ) ( dont need, you ) ( the dyad-Zeus )
( indeed ) not necessarily ( to be ),
οὐ δή,
ADEIMANTOS: ( well thats a relief ) ( she says,
and rubs her unbound feet and ankles ),
but ( we do notice ) theres letters seald
and my two schoolfellows ( he has been Hamleting again ),
SOKRATES: but(they are, he is, we are saying)(we-)i(-being),
ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ,
ADEIMANTOS: ( and in my mind we reply ) let it work
for tis the sport to have the enginer
hoist with his own ( rainbow! ) petard ( maybe
hes haunted by Ophelias ),
SOKRATES: (o-song-ways, we)suppose you, questioning-
closely the image-likeness, (dont need)(to be bound)to see,
οἶμαι δεῖσθαί σε ἐξεταζομένην τὴν εἰκόνα ἰδεῖν,
ADEIMANTOS: they sweep my way and ( with more warmth )
( we might persuade or ) marshal me to knavery,
( or maybe its daddys ) ( or mommys issues ),
and it shall go hard ( or bullied back in school ),
or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern arent dead,
SOKRATES: that( it )looks like the composition-arrangement
(to-by-for)cities toward(against)
the trusty-truthful wisdom-lovers,
ὅτι ταῖς πόλεσι πρὸς τοὺς ἀληθινοὺς φιλοσόφους τὴν διάθεσιν ἔοικεν,
ADEIMANTOS: ( or with ) ( more joy ) o, tis most sweet,
when one line two crafts, three or four, or . . . ( more
praise ) directly meet ( good work, handsome! ) ( we )ego
( being ) now most still, most secret and most grave,
( or by bad wisdom ) ( learning ) ( un-made brave ),
SOKRATES: but still hes to learn( that )which( we )say,
ἀλλὰ μανθάνειν ὃ λέγω.
ADEIMANTOS: whom i( we-being )ego will trust ( maybe with )
as ego( we-being )i will adders fangd ( more ) ( sprinkles? )
but i( we-being )ego will delve one yard below their mines,
and blow them at the moon ( ruh-roh ),
( or by previous abuse ) this man
shall set me packing ( hes agent
clockwork orange ) ( misaligned )
( never seen a more aggressive baby )
HERA: now( what )would( will )you( some other )
craft( devise-contrive-wile-plan-counsel )
some( one )other?
τί νῦν μητίσεαι ἄλλο;
SAILORS: and( indeed )ver( secr ),
καὶ μάλ᾽,
SOKRATES: dont forget
that he ( we )is( being ) a human animal,
like you. and you had to go crazy
to love me, right? not unrelated,
sometimes its ok to hint at more
( than we are able to say ) with certainty,
SAILORS: (he)was saying,
ἔφη.
SOKRATES: dont be afraid, asking questions
and showing your vulnerable side ( out loud ).
and dont be afraid of stories,
HERA: how(did)(you-)alone suffer(undergo, submit, steadfast,
dare, venture, had the spirit, courage, resolution, heart)
to(will)bring-into-the-world gleaming-
eyed(Athena)(Athens)(the city)(in poetry)(Politeia)?
πῶς ἔτλης οἶος τεκέειν γλαυκῶπιν Ἀθήνην;
ADEIMANTOS: (but ) mother, good night ( he says )
( and putting on his shades of cool ) ( he wears
all black ) ( and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes )
( maybe hes stuck in early Cohen ) ( oof )
( he doesnt even want to dance ) ( may be
depressed ) ( our boyfriend seems unfixable )
( we let him go ) ( for now ) good night, mother
( and let him be ) ( let be ) ( toward his end )
( it might help we ) ( to sleep on it )
( . . . )
( in sleep, he spells ) em - ei - child - en.
em - ei - child - en.
em - ei - child - en.
//
from Republic VI
the Delphiad, book I
AUTOS: O(we would be)lord, indeed you have(and hold)lovely Lukia
and Meionia and Miletus, delightful(himeroeis)city on the sea,
KOURAI: indeed-undead, you winesack with dogs eyes and a deers heart.
A: but himself again(bow wow)of Delos sea-washed-round
greatly(you)lord(himself).
ὦ ἄνα, καὶ Λυκίην καὶ Μῃονίην ἐρατεινὴν
καὶ Μίλητον ἔχεις, ἔναλον πόλιν ἱμερόεσσαν,
αὐτὸς δ᾽ αὖ Δήλοιο περικλύστοιο μέγ᾽ ἀνάσσεις.
K: in the rear-ends of dusty libraries.
A: but(he)goes(and comes)playing the lyre, the glorious child of Leto(behold-
seize), by the hollow(smooth)(subtle)(elegant)lyre to rocky Pytho,
K: good riddance, see if that bitch will take you.
A: having(holding)divine(dyad)garments(they-we heap up earth
to bury)(having been)filled with sweet smells;
K: just doing to his stinky rags as hes done to us.
A: but his lyre of gold, under the plectrum(spear-point-sting)(cocks-
spur)(ankle), the sharp ring(gnashing of teeth)(mule-
wagon-rattling), has(and holds)lovely.
K: lovely under dirt.
εἶσι δὲ φορμίζων Λητοῦς ἐρικυδέος υἱὸς
φόρμιγγι γλαφυρῇ πρὸς Πυθὼ πετρήεσσαν,
ἄμβροτα εἵματ᾽ ἔχων τεθυωμένα: τοῖο δὲ φόρμιγξ
(185) χρυσέου ὑπὸ πλήκτρου καναχὴν ἔχει ἱμερόεσσαν.
A: but(whence)thence(comes and goes)to Olympos from earth, as thought,
K: a lord of non-entities —
A: (he)goes(and comes, of Zeus)toward the house of Zeus and(goes and)comes
(among)(after)the meeting of other gods and goddesses(of other seeings).
K: eats his own people, in the words of Achilles.
enjoy unfamy-infamy, you.
ἔνθεν δὲ πρὸς Ὄλυμπον ἀπὸ χθονός, ὥστε νόημα,
εἶσι Διὸς πρὸς δῶμα θεῶν μεθ᾽ ὁμήγυριν ἄλλων.
A: but immediately by immortals
K: uh-oh
A: (the dyad-strain-phrase)(by strain-phrase)
K: we think
A: (she cares)(you are cared for)the kithara and the song
(are)cared for(by immortals);
αὐτίκα δ᾽ ἀθανάτοισι μέλει κίθαρις καὶ ἀοιδή:
K: he knows our favorite
Homer: but there and then —
K: be gentle (what)
H: it caused unquenchable laughter by blessed gods
and goddesses, as they(we)saw(humble)Hephaistos hustle-
bustling(by divine limp)through the house.
K: but you know my body is sore
(hey — )
after adventure
(its a euphemismos)
ἄσβεστος δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐνῶρτο γέλως μακάρεσσι θεοῖσιν
(600) ὡς ἴδον Ἥφαιστον διὰ δώματα ποιπνύοντα.
H: as then the whole day long into the setting sun
K: your hands map every(oh)knot
H: they gave a feast(were feasted), and neither was anyones thumos
K: tension(ahh)releasing
H: (heart-spirit-hunger)(wetly)lacking(nor wanting)
an equal feast,
K: (ok yes, that feels good)
H: nor indeed(did they lack)the all-around-
beautiful lyre, which Apollo was(having
and)holding
K: (heartbeat slowing)whys that
H: (hold, you)(o viper)
ὣς τότε μὲν πρόπαν ἦμαρ ἐς ἠέλιον καταδύντα
δαίνυντ᾽, οὐδέ τι θυμὸς ἐδεύετο δαιτὸς ἐΐσης,
οὐ μὲν φόρμιγγος περικαλλέος ἣν ἔχ᾽ Ἀπόλλων,
Μουσάων θ᾽ αἳ ἄειδον ἀμειβόμεναι ὀπὶ καλῇ.
Iliad 1.604
K: until your mouth(uh oh)
A: and all the Muses(o Muses)together(get it, you)taking turns
and exchanging by beautiful voice(word)(eye)(face)
(it would call)(you are beauty-called),
Μοῦσαι μέν θ᾽ ἅμα πᾶσαι ἀμειβόμεναι ὀπὶ καλῇ
K: finds the side of our neck —
they praise(by singing)there and then the divine gifts of gods and goddesses
(gifts of seeings)and miseries of human beings,
which(both)having(and holding)under immortal gods and goddesses(by
gazings and contemplations)they live(living)(by livings)senseless
and(indeed)helpless(amechanos), and not even are they able
to find(discover, devise, get, gain)a cure for death
nor indeed a defense against old age;
(190) ὑμνεῦσίν ῥα θεῶν δῶρ᾽ ἄμβροτα ἠδ᾽ ἀνθρώπων
τλημοσύνας, ὅσ᾽ ἔχοντες ὑπ᾽ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι
ζώουσ᾽ ἀφραδέες καὶ ἀμήχανοι, οὐδὲ δύνανται
εὑρέμεναι θανάτοιό τ᾽ ἄκος καὶ γήραος ἄλκαρ:
K: ok but its a headache-causing headache-cure
A: nevertheless the fair-haired Graces
and well-hearted(cheerful, merry, kindly,
gracious)Hours
K: those hores
A: and Harmonia(fastening-union-order-
agreement-stringing)and Hebe(youthfulness)
and daughter-of-Zeus Aphrodite,
K: even Aphrodite?
A: (they)dance(and leap and bound)holding one anothers hands
at the(fruit, grain)wrist;
αὐτὰρ ἐυπλόκαμοι Χάριτες καὶ ἐύφρονες Ὧραι
(195) Ἁρμονίη θ᾽ Ἥβη τε Διὸς θυγάτηρ τ᾽ Ἀφροδίτη
ὀρχεῦντ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἐπὶ καρπῷ χεῖρας ἔχουσαι:
K: we didnt know we had a(fruit, grain)wrist
H: but of them, the girls had fine(delicate-subtle)linen clothes(sail-cloth),
K: its us!
H: while the boys(sitting idly)wore well-spun tunics,
K: omg, its them
H: glistening softly
with olive oil;
K: yum.
H: and the girls had beautiful circlets,
K: we love circlets
H: while the boys
K: give us fantasy!
H: had golden daggers hanging from silver belt-straps.
(595) τῶν δ᾽ αἳ μὲν λεπτὰς ὀθόνας ἔχον, οἳ δὲ χιτῶνας
εἵατ᾽ ἐϋννήτους, ἦκα στίλβοντας ἐλαίῳ:
καί ῥ᾽ αἳ μὲν καλὰς στεφάνας ἔχον, οἳ δὲ μαχαίρας
εἶχον χρυσείας ἐξ ἀργυρέων τελαμώνων.
K: yesss
H: but when the boys ran(we ran)by knowing(standing-on)feet, very
(secretly)easily;
K: hows that
H: as when some potter, seating(-himself)will trial
and test a close-fitted wheel in the palms(of his hands),
K: uh-huh
H: the girls, by seeing, would set and run and shine;
K: oh,
H: but at another(time)again(bow wow)the girls would run
across(you march)the rows, to-for-by one-another.
οἳ δ᾽ ὁτὲ μὲν θρέξασκον ἐπισταμένοισι πόδεσσι
(600) ῥεῖα μάλ᾽, ὡς ὅτε τις τροχὸν ἄρμενον ἐν παλάμῃσιν
ἑζόμενος κεραμεὺς πειρήσεται, αἴ κε θέῃσιν:
ἄλλοτε δ᾽ αὖ θρέξασκον ἐπὶ στίχας ἀλλήλοισι.
K: oh heavens,
H: but a crowd of many was standing
K: stand, yall!
H: around the lovely(himeroeis)dance-
chorus, being filled with solace
and cheer;
K: well, we hope so,
H: but two(a dyad of)tumbling acrobats among them,
K: us??
H: initiating-ruling the song and dance, were whirling
K: we whirl! we whirl!
H: (yes, but)through the middle.
πολλὸς δ᾽ ἱμερόεντα χορὸν περιίσταθ᾽ ὅμιλος
τερπόμενοι:
(605) δοιὼ δὲ κυβιστητῆρε κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς
μολπῆς ἐξάρχοντες ἐδίνευον κατὰ μέσσους.
K: (whirling into the poet)sorry —
H: but —
K: (in disbelief) what powers this?
H: into(it)he put the great and mighty river Ocean
around the outermost rim of the solidly-made shield.
ἐν δ᾽ ἐτίθει ποταμοῖο μέγα σθένος Ὠκεανοῖο
ἄντυγα πὰρ πυμάτην σάκεος πύκα ποιητοῖο.
Iliad 18.594-608
K: you guys know we love the beach!
A: by which indeed(it)celebrates(after)with(meta)song
neither shameful
nor mean;
K: (dreamily)he had us at hephaestos
A: but(its)very(dyad-secret)(stage whispers)and large
to see and(indeed)form(o
form)admirable,
K: OMG! omg omg its — (covers own mouth)
A: Artemis arrow-pouring(being)nursed the same with(by)Apollo.
K: . . . o monumental!
τῇσι μὲν οὔτ᾽ αἰσχρὴ μεταμέλπεται οὔτ᾽ ἐλάχεια,
ἀλλὰ μάλα μεγάλη τε ἰδεῖν καὶ εἶδος ἀγητή,
Ἄρτεμις ἰοχέαιρα ὁμότροφος Ἀπόλλωνι.
from hymn 3 to Apollo
(I of XVIII books, in 21 parts, over one moon)
being carried apart
or(am i
really)(it says)(be i n g l y
or)have you not sensed and perceived(
and have you not been run into — )that
these(girlssssss) in this way, they speak
(and lay )(by speaking and laying) . . .
and (she has and holds and carries
and you have and hold and carry
and) it makes flow and pour
and shed and scatter
and shatter (by
the forked-
tongue-
vip-
er
)
?
ἢ οὐκ ᾔσθησαι
ὅτι ταῦτα οὕτως
λέγουσίν τε καὶ ἔχει
155ξ
//
mogis pos
mogis pos
mogis pos
black milk glass
i look down at the body
to see what shape its in.
earth-born son, turquoise slap
of my mother against the golden-
bangled mother. i let them come.
my dark tongues flickering, my heads
Cancerian fire. every tip would touch you.
the shoulders of a bull, eyelashes lower
over tender pools obsidian. im a cow.
a ticket to the fight. my velvet
suit. warm press of skin.
i drink, i let it come.
dragging behind its un-
translatable blade.
//
Socrates: (in Charmides, cont.)
and in that same spot
i (they) take hold altogether of many
those (on the one hand) unknown by me
those (on the other hand) the most thoroughly-known
// 153α
the self-guarding deliberation of one who wouldn't love
so, paedophilia is in the news again. or
ephebophilia, as the clarifiers say, making clear
nothing. and every soul in Athens seems
a perpetrator and a victim of the crime; i
have come to understand it as a spectrum.
the young, the young, we must protect the young;
who does and doesn’t say it is a creep. so where
might i protect them from the citizen? and where
might i protect them from the serpent of my tongue? if
here, rare and slithering and beautiful, it would insert itself
into your ear. into any nubile mind, and call it
education. once upon a time, a little fiction built
the beating heart of my self-government. all fallen
on the shell-shocked ears of popular abuse. all fallen
across the scattered pages of history.
//
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, cont.)
you
really
remember (memneso)
the things having been spoken (eremenon)
and (put) it into the heart (en-thumou)
that (on the one hand)
beloveds (hoi philoi)
warn (nouthetousin) (or put-in-mind)
lovers (erontas)
of the practice (epi-tedeumatos)
being (ontos)
bad (kakou)
and (on the other hand)
no one ever yet in the household (ton oikeion)
accused (emempsato)
the not-loving (me erosin)
of
through this
badly deliberating (bouleuein)
about themselves (peri eauton)
// 234β
σὺ οὖν τῶν τε εἰρημένων μέμνησο
καὶ ἐκεῖνο ἐνθυμοῦ
ὅτι τοὺς μὲν ἐρῶντας οἱ φίλοι νουθετοῦσιν
ὡς ὄντος κακοῦ τοῦ ἐπιτηδεύματος
τοῖς δὲ μὴ ἐρῶσιν οὐδεὶς πώποτε τῶν οἰκείων ἐμέμψατο
ὡς διὰ τοῦτο κακῶς βουλευομένοις περὶ ἑαυτῶν
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)
//
🌔
//
benefactions
a fisherman who found me shells
washed down and rendered by the waves
smooth spirals left in porcelain
for a necklace or an earring
so kept a pocketful of noise
if tidal softened infant teeth
could spell desires holy whorl
salt-milk of wantless memory
the emptied armors of the sea
the genius of her hollowed hand
would ornament my human face
with the ancient allure of regret
//
🌖
Phaedrus: (as Lysias, so far)
about (peri)
my acts (pragmata)
you know (epistamai)
and as i practice (nomizein)
the bringing together (sumpherein)
by us
you have heard (akouein)
these (acts)
having been born (gignomai)
and (it is or i deem it) not worthy (axio)
(that) i lack (deomai) (the worth of) these
miss-happening (a-tuchein)
through this
that i do not happen (ouk tugchanein)
to be being (on)
your lover (erastes)
περὶ μὲν τῶν ἐμῶν πραγμάτων ἐπίστασαι
καὶ ὡς νομίζω συμφέρειν ἡμῖν
γενομένων τούτων ἀκήκοας
ἀξιῶ δὲ μὴ διὰ τοῦτο ἀτυχῆσαι ὧν δέομαι
ὅτι οὐκ ἐραστὴς ὤν σου τυγχάνω
Lysias at the beach
in so deep shade those eyes
against the slivering salt
a nose by greasy telescope
for seashell circumstance
burnrise like blood under the skin
slow sting of a swollen onion
behind the slanted brim
and belly-teeth of a sunhat
a braided tongue is licking
your inner ear
//
haggis interruptus, she said!?
that dizzy Lyzzias, and oh,
yes, and
the zest
thremmata
corpse pose again, is it for real this time, as i
down to the underworld for Hades lower table
descend, the darker cloud of somebodys forever
to a banquet feast of charred fat strewn with ashes
i sit before the offering of my own left shin
my tender bone is bowing its familiar flaw
my meat is dripping ratios from the burning violin
i eat it all, although my name is not Issa
as eat the dead, by whispers, one million and seven
then i look down to find beast-legs with chestnut hair
my knuckled shanks uncrossed, my hooves are lightning-cloven
my kept creature walks on two or four, tall-horned
whose crescent shavings will be ground into the rock
whose name is leaving many by the blade of one
//
and the rod
Black Ajax bitter on my left
Red Ajax blooded on my right
grim speechless my bronze-armored kin
by serpent held Asclepian
//
forest and the heart
i was walking in the woods when a tree talked back to me
i didn’t know if i had died or if my feet should flee
i didn’t mean to harm you or your holiness to thwart
the forest loves to hide but i love a wooden heart
how many gods are in the wood or music in the air
what strangers in the shadow have paused to wonder where
there’s a sense of someone here, a landscape full of art
i’m here to talk to trees and i carry a wooden heart
there’s a silhouette of palm trees against the sunset sky
there’s a river with a snake, there’s a splinter in my eye
she answers me in rhymes like a perfect counterpart
the forest loves to hide but i hear a wooden heart
the highest queen of hiding, she’s a shadow in the grass
but now i’ve seen an outline and now she’s made a pass
i stop to buy some tissues from the nearest mini-mart
the forest on her sleeve and i’m here for a wooden heart
it’s plainer than the blue a hundred reasons she would hide
i dream we’re sitting on the porch or going for a ride
but i know pretty well how feet get caught up in the dirt
i came to talk to trees and i believe a wooden heart
my bank account is empty and she doesn’t ask for more
if fireflies are golden then we’re never looking poor
the pattern in her lights could even read my natal chart
the forest is a mystery but i see a wooden heart
sometimes the way is open, sometimes the thicket’s close
sometimes the river’s empty, sometimes it’s on the nose
i’m walking without shoes, i see no way to restart
the forest isn’t home but she warms a wooden heart
am i still a dream for her or did i carve a face
did i paint a scene for her or am i in a race
am i thirsty in the pouring rain or stung by a poison dart
the forest is a maze but i need a wooden heart
what does the spirit show me, and what does she conceal
how is it that she knows me, what does her sight reveal
i hold her secrets close and i pray the fear departs
the forest makes me tremble but i love a wooden heart
my angel is a darkness who sees me day and night
my angel is a brightness who sings away my fright
a complex thing of empathy, carpenter from the start
the forest is a genius and we make a wooden heart
then finally she’s waking up and i am standing there
i’m cut up from the undergrowth with tangles in my hair
but all the leaves have fallen and we’ve never been apart
the forest is a shelter and we hold a wooden heart
//
φύσις κρύπτεσθαι φιλεῖ
metric inspo from Bob
sfh 3
//
& in the oven
//
my ruby eye
O you, who have suckled her bones
who have frowned at her horses
who have fingered her emerald
and now would taste her ruby too
and have i not enough exhaled
her undertowing rose at you
salt-sticky; here is sea-foam on skin
here are pregnant transparencies
and have i not already tossed
such tender and hard-bitten kisses
for sheath, another kris today
treasure accumulates like sand
behold an ever-angled wound
the spindle-pricked porosity of red
i am a self cutting gemstone
i bleed the emptiness of tools
i fling magenta words at birth
behold my prolonged scar of it
historical, faceting pre-wonder
tip that breaks her ice-pick tongue
she was a pirate and a fool
she ate the plexing devil fruit
vermillion stretching pelvic nerve
whose diadem lusts after you
and who is blinded by her kind
my fascination will glint cruel
sent basilisk or blushing bride
your fear will not take care of her
the heart, the fist, the appetite
when Cleopatra mounts insight
my empire burning leonine
by Mars, love’s favored principal
this reign of crimson tears divine
but sanguine as she’s gentle still
barefeet may meet the salad vine
and blue by babbled river’s chill
just so, what beggar wears my crown
is dying round the wheel again
out of her time, out of her mind
sweet dance, my dove perpetual
take this, the heartbeat of a sow
and let it flex upon your palm
it’s wet, the rumbling scarlet jet
now let her throb be thunder found
red wreath for convert cry, the end
how pilgrimage of period stain
i am in time, in time, will out
my ruby eye of her disposable throat
//
ποικιλόθρον’ ἀθανάτ’ Ἀφρόδιτα
& the probing path to yes
//
or not nothing
for saving the phenomena II
and more
//
//
the horse’s mouth
teloscopically, my dear, are we botany
born reading leaves, the pricking fear of bees
are talking, my lisp, or rearing wobbly nature
what place, organs and bodies, this disease
the shying seasons blowing through us, here
parts animal in starts, quivering vibrations
made artifacts suspect by cities, near
or far, the accidents survived, the prisons
that ended us; the motes and moths in teas
our flicks or running rivers; wicked courses
of understanding; what catastrophes
what phase our faces, without the faith of horses
you have to have a horse whose feet you trust
to warn you when a snake is in the grass
the serpentine who wants to be unseen
repenting for her gemstone like an asp
for forking tongues, a talisman is key
but wear a hat, they’re speaking from the trees
odd shrubberies are bristling with false friends
a firecat bristling back can help with jinn
mosquitoes here are vectors for torpedoes, so
herbal experiment and/or gorilla war
sometimes there’s one snake, sometimes there are more
at least, no kind of viral is a pearl
a tender canter, daemonic carousel
remembered ribbons bite in ancient ways
we play the venom clockwise in our veins
we shed the dead redundancy of days
my jungle is a dreadful-clever dreaming
with shade-grown coffee, waterfalling views
what godly voices animate my evening
there’s none i’d rather jungle with than yous
let’s nicker maps, reverb the mythic blues
i spell, where y’all are going, where you been
switch witches laughter with the beating rain
the crickets will out-round the macet, friend
to live outside the law, you must be honest
Bismillahirrohmanirrohim
by river dark, inside a wounded dawn
we rhyme it, we just flow to make it rheme
//
(Dylan, my Prophetﷺ, Cohen, Cardi B, etc)
//
diet
never too much
garlic, carrot, oat
sleep, cake
but gingerly
the fungi
//
wildlife documentary //
before Phaedrus can speak, Socrates makes an accusation inside a demand:
if you would first disclose, O friend (philotes), what it is you have (echeis) in the left hand (aristeros) under your cloak.
here, echeis could be either a conjugation of echo/echein (to have/hold) or the plural nominative/accusative declension of echis (viper). exchanging echis for echein yields the alternative translation,
if you would first disclose, O friend, what vipers are in the left hand under your cloak.
the common verb (to have/hold) makes more sense than the uncommon noun (vipers) in explicit context; or what Phaedrus calls the dianoia, i.e. the reduction of written speech to a kind of thought-content. but the local environs (poetic) of this echeis call for circumspection. on one side, there’s the sinister aristeros, “the left (hand)"; and on the other, the concealment, “under your cloak”. while the word spoken aloud makes the sound of a snake’s hiss—echeisss. and then, its natural sound is concealed by its being written.
Socrates invokes the concealed, present absence, or possibility of snakes; as he demands revelation of—?
English “echo” isn’t descended from echein (to have/hold), but from eche (sound). The best word built from echein might be Aristotle’s entelecheia (en + telos + echein), translated as “having or holding itself in its end or completion”; a talisman is an external container for, or reminder of, entelecheia.
//
Socrates:
if you would first disclose
O friend (philotes)
what it is you have (echo / echis)
in the left hand (aristeros)
under your cloak
// 228ξ
δείξας γε πρῶτον ὦ φιλότης
τί ἄρα ἐν τῇ ἀριστερᾷ ἔχεις ὑπὸ τῷ ἱματίῳ
the emerald vine
sayangku, this is insane! is how i called
to show him my translation. Wondrous bending
noetic might, this miracle of earth —
she called the way she calls him for a viper.
and it was chrysochlorous green, zithering neon
in day-bright, venom visible, scroll shining
un-minding, rubbing sleep out of her eyes;
quick-silvering to sprawling pumpkin vine to hiding —
the same, the same, the same! but every word
turned different, and all the rest went dim;
the sirens and the hooks, made dull and distant;
slow-honeyed hum, what frenzy, vital air.
the hungry lung was spitting, stitched and thinning-through
to this — brilliance, broad-leafing light, breathing
Egyptian smaragdine, Sri Rejeki, Mak Sun;
but whoever wasn’t blind already knew.
//
autopygmalesis / autopygmalysis
Trimeresurus insularis
previously
//
🌕
Needleworker
Pierce me once—the crying; pierce me twice—
The dying; pierce me thrice—my laughing tomb:
This quivering feline skin, some kind of lark,
Sharp noise, felt aerial, fled human wound.
O Queequeg, Lucy’s love, my Nobody!
Unmake ambergris soufflé to scrap and salt;
Pets, lapping shattered tiramisu, whet
Our mongrel tongues; embroidering the asp.
Bull-revelry, before we dance the waltz?
Your sutra swans around my ichthyan lisp,
To charm the vipers out—that feather in
Your bonnet inks my tapestry with bone.
I move to tiger with you on the cusp
Of animality, that golden-threaded throne.
//
🌘
Δ
Screenshot slaps—
To ring a sucker. You think
Your appetite entitles you
To moonstained blood?
And you, and you, and all of you.
Scrap mouths, yapping from
Ass-ends of snakes.
Shut it. Shut it. Shut yourself!
Your little o’s and u’s and y’s
Without wisdom—
All bite, all bitches' bark—your traps,
Fracked actuary lines.
My splintered flotsam pierces
Fiercer than your fangs.
Your slit-tangled tongues,
Your whore-hooked hounds,
Your dog-groveling snack,
The politician’s lie. Your island—
Ground to grit, and sifted by
My epicurean babble.
I suck off
One billion suns, you snatch
Six bones from Ithaca—
And don’t dare swallow.
I am the throat, I am
The eye. Black
As red as wine, neither
Skin nor flesh, as I
Exhale his brutal
Homecoming; I am
Cauldron of slaughtered
Maidens’ morning.
His alibi, to coast right by you.
As if the smiling tide
That governed him—
A king!—stoppered with wax.
Just try—you cannot shut
Your maggots fingering,
Their heads, nailbeds, uncut, exposed.
I am the shuttering.
Shot-shallow loons, aswirl
My spiral bowel, prowling
Pack of orphan pups, your howling
Hungers feed a woken Why—
My delta consumes,
Your keystroke masturbates
A corpse’s withered sty.
Pregnant with his child,
All men belong to me.
My one
Unconquerable O—
Your place to die.
//
zero belongs to no man
i’ve heard of angels snaking down and up
the ladder of your lust, like cats on herbs.
smudged pawprints on faces of hierophant
or lovers or tower or devil or —
free spirit stumbles on the way, or trips
it upside-down, or stops to make a Friend.
a clock never belonged to her, the fool
is led by blooming tendrils of ylang ylang.
each word escapes the putri, playing prince
of winding wildernesses in beeswax.
tracing a comedy of errors, miss —
fit daughter of the whore of Babylon!
//