resting on roadsides

[panta rhei]

between one step
and the other
there is time
to ponder

between one breath
and the next
there is space to be

the journey is a time to wonder
tents and mountains
provide rest and
make me see


jotunheimen mountains, norway, june 1988


mountaintop in the desert near luxor, egypt, january 1990

[Doreen Peri]

you, the outdoors woman,
tackle topography,
reflect on nature's gift.
in your face, i see a thousand
lifetimes, young as the breath
of a newborn lioness, old
as the andes.

[panta rhei]

if i was a sphinx
i'd riddle myself
with a thousand lifetimes

i'd have the road between my paws
and all time in my glance

i'd lie still and sublime
on movement and awe

while i rested
in the sands

[Doreen Peri]

snakes can be hidden in
a basket of figs.
the egyptian queen
tames an asp in search
of wisdom.

he hisses ...
"shhhhhhhh,
i cannot tell.
shhhhhhhh."

two pricks were found
on cleopatra's arm.
she was hungry for knowledge.
he was starved for blood.
her love for egypt killed her.

[panta rhei]

in the sift of sand
grain after grain ticks on dust
in hollows of time

dunes are whirled free
by hunger

[stilltrucking]

Max Pollak: Oedipus and the Sphinx
. http://www.dirty-paper.com/artheap/angie/page/15.html

Oedipus wrecks on the road to Thebes

But he lost a blue suede shoe

He makes it into town just in time for The Wheel Fortune,
poor boy.

He buys a two vowels and answers the question

And he wins the throne and the crone

Vice is nice but incest is best

A boy’s best friend is his mother cause

Mama don’t lie

He plucks his eyes to see what he has done

And his daughter makes a grave for him at Coloneus

All is well that ends well

"When I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening, you answered, Man. You didn't say anything about woman."
"When you say Man," said Oedipus, "you include women too. Everyone knows that." She said, "That's what you think."

-Muriel Rukeyser [1973]


http://www.stevens-tech.edu/phisigsig/c ... llery.html

The Hunger
Flesh and blood needs flesh and blood