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Nysa

Posted: November 19th, 2009, 9:53 pm
by constantine
from the mountains of nysa
he journeyed westward
with spotted lynx, white-dappled fawn
and the food of the centaurs
that brings both wisdom and madness

we followed as he wandered
and when the mushroom was found
there we built the mighty walls
this house of evil and sorrow
where even gods are the slaves of fate

he will confront you in your blasphemy
he will entice you to the sacred grove
have you spy secretly upon mysteries
but the daughters will find you out
and the mother will devour her son

he is the man who is not a man
born of his father's thigh
consumed by the sacred fire
semele mourns her motherhood
as agave dances upon his blood

Posted: November 19th, 2009, 11:10 pm
by judih
This is such a visual piece, constantine
rich, deliberate vision

Posted: November 20th, 2009, 11:45 am
by constantine
thank you. i like working within and with the myth idiom.

Posted: January 1st, 2010, 3:15 pm
by stilltrucking
Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy such a beautiful book. It left me with an eduring love for Greek Mythology.

Thank you for the poem

Happy new year Dino. Happy ten even.

Posted: January 1st, 2010, 3:18 pm
by constantine
i'll try to pick up a copy. happy ten, jack. it's good to hear from you. i was in baltimore for a few days and had a nice time with family and some old friends - wish you could've been there.

Posted: January 1st, 2010, 6:07 pm
by stilltrucking
I wish I had said "an enduring passion for Greek Mythology"

The Birth of Tragedy (from the spirit of music) I was tripping the first time I read it. I have read it again and marked it up some.

You got a lot on your plate. Let me quote you some of my favorite passages is you don't mind. If it really grabs you then maybe you can find the time to read it. New semester starting up?

I will be back.
Going out to dinner with the family.
I wish I could have been there in Baltimore with youse.
I wish we could have met for a cup of joe down on fells point. I forget the name of that joint?

Posted: January 1st, 2010, 6:39 pm
by constantine
jimmy's?

Posted: January 1st, 2010, 6:58 pm
by still.trucking
Yes
Still there?

Posted: January 1st, 2010, 7:49 pm
by constantine
it's still there. remember prevas' - with the stools that were halfway in the street!

Posted: January 2nd, 2010, 2:02 am
by stilltrucking
five cent milk shakes
ice and milk and shook up in those old machines with the big wheel turned by hand.

Do you remember this emblem above the Market on top floor above where the stools were?

Image

So strange that military unit would choose a ying yang for their insignia.

I am going to read Birth Of Tragedy again. One passage in particular I am looking for.

I will be back when I find it.

Posted: January 3rd, 2010, 10:37 am
by constantine
can't say that i do. i believe i would've beamed in on it as i used to go there often for their 35 cent fish sandwich.

Posted: January 3rd, 2010, 1:29 pm
by stilltrucking
Sorry Dino
I just remembered
I asked you that once before.
that 29th division sign was in late forties early fifties.
______________________

I been reading a different translation of Birth of Tragedy.

I went tp Hopkins' McCoy College for a couple of semesters. Great instructors. They were moon lighting professors from the day school. I took a course in Greek Classical Literature. Taught by a guy named McCall. I will never forget him. It was like being in heaven to have a teacher who loved to teach and was passionate about his subject matter. In the middle of a passage he was reading in English he would pause and say say "Oh what an enemy we have in Greek" Same is true of German I think. Translations sure vary. I am looking for a translation of Nietzsche by Walter Kaufmann.

Please pardon the long ramble
and please pardon my pardon
sincerely
jt

Posted: January 4th, 2010, 5:07 pm
by constantine
i have a kaufmann translation of beyond good and evil, but i haven't read it yet.

Posted: January 8th, 2010, 5:37 pm
by jimboloco
was he mad at the greeks for what?
restaurants?
no skinning cats
only kiss furs don't eat'em