Madam Medusa: Issa's Sunday Service, #186

In case of wonky widget, click here
This week's selection, Madam Medusa by UB40, is a Sunday morning/afternoon stretch out your legs, space out your mind, little adventure in relax-to-the-max. Greek mythology gives us the lit connection for the week.
For those of a certain age, who got their Greek myth from Harryhausen before Hamilton, here's a little something to dust off a memory. For those raised in the digital age, here's some old school schooling:

--------------

the great demoness flits and flutters... paper fan

Issa translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

PS. Get 2 free issues. Get 2 more free issues. 

Lillie poem archive

Send one haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 185 songs

The Minotaur's Song: Issa's Sunday Service #155

  In case of wonky widget, click here
This week's selection is by a group that defied categorization: folk, pop, rock, psychedelic,world, gypsy, surreal, you name it, the Incredible String Band has probably done it, at least in passing.  There were a number of similar groups, believe it or not: Pearls Before Swine and Tyrannosaurus Rex (Marc Bolan's T-Rex before the glam) come to mind.


The Minotaur's Song

Straight from the shoulder
I think like a soldier
I know what's right and what's wrong
He knows what's right and what's wrong.

I'm the original discriminating buffalo man
And I'll do what's wrong as long as I can
He'll do what's wrong as long as he can

I live in a labyrinth under the sea
Down in the dark as dark as can be
I like the dark as dark as can be
He likes the dark as dark as can be

I'll even attack you or eat you whole
Down in the dark my bone mills roll
Porridge for my porridge bowl
Porridge for his porridge bowl

I'm strong as the earth from which I'm born
He's strong as the earth from which he's born
I can't dream well because of my horns
He can't dream well because of his horns

Moo

I'm strong as the earth from which I'm born
He's strong as the earth from which he's born
I can't dream well because of my horns
He can't dream well because of his horns

A minotaur gets very sore
His features they are such a bore
His habits are predicta-bull
Aggressively relia-bull, bull, bull

I'm strong as the earth from which I'm born
He's strong as the earth from which he's born
I can't dream well because of my horns
He can't dream well because of his horns

I'm the original discriminating buffalo man
And I'll do what's wrong as long as I can
He'll do what's wrong as long as he can



I'm not quite sure why, but listening to this particular number I got to thinking about another tune. So, if you've made it this far, here's your treat:



     

Trying to get back on track, I somehow got it in my head that Ray Harryhausen had created a minotaur and so went searching. He did, in fact, create a Golden Minotaur in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger; said GM can be found doing some yeoman rowing in the following wonderful compilation of Harryhausen creatures:

 

   

The original Minotaur story can be found in Ovid's Metamorphoses. There is the connection between Daedalus and the Minotaur (he and Icarus built the labyrinth) ; unexpectedly, while listening to mp3s on the way to work, Anne Sexton came up, reading her poem that alludes to that connection:


To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph

Consider Icarus, pasting those sticky wings on,
testing that strange little tug at his shoulder blade,
and think of that first flawless moment over the lawn
of the labyrinth. Think of the difference it made!
There below are the trees, as awkward as camels;
and here are the shocked starlings pumping past
and think of innocent Icarus who is doing quite well.
Larger than a sail, over the fog and the blast
of the plushy ocean, he goes. Admire his wings!
Feel the fire at his neck and see how casually
he glances up and is caught, wondrously tunneling
into that hot eye. Who cares that he fell back to the sea?
See him acclaiming the sun and come plunging down
while his sensible daddy goes straight into town.  

~ Anne Sexton 

So the lesson I suppose is that when you write a poem for your friend, a fellow poet, it's a fine thing to allude to her most famous poem in the last line.  

Or maybe not.

It sure is a wonderful life ...


------------------

Art by Kuniyoshi Ishiyakushi

cherry blossoms scatter--
even the devil in me
has lost his horns 

 Issa

 translated by David G. Lanoue 

best,
Don

   

PS. Get 2 free issues. Get 2 more free issues

Lillie poem archive

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 155 songs

  

Live Forever: Ray Bradbury Celebration & Reading

For those within striking distance Tuesday evening, July 17th, there will be a celebration of the life and work of Ray Bradbury at Awesome Books, Downtown, 929 Liberty Ave, at 6:30 pm.  The reading is free, the bookstore is awesome, and Ray Bradbury touched us all often and deeply.  See the above for a list of who is reading what.  


On the day he died, there was a touching tribute to Ray by a fan on Harlan Ellison's webpage that said it all:


"Mars seems unbearably far away today."


Join us for the celebration.

Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison, & Julius Schwartz

my stars--
a gang of old men
in the Milky Way

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

PS. Get 2 free issues. Get 2 more free issues

Lillie poem archive

Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.

Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 130 song