The True Nature of Hermes Trismegistus

The True Nature of Hermes Trismegistus

Hermes Trismegistus

trimmed his beard into a taper

thinking silent he could caper

through Athena's steel-grey hair

and never wake her.

But that smile as she lay sleeping

showed plainly she was dreaming

his humors into being

a distillation furred and spliced:

her owlfood made from mice--

leaving mortals to discover

why one god eats another.

~August 2014, 

revised December 2015

posted for real toads

a bit of fluff for Hannah's Classical Elements

Image: Minerva, or Pallas Athena, Gustav Klimt, 1898 Public Domain via wikiart.org

The Tailor Mouse, 1902 by Beatrix Potter. Manipulated. Public domain via wikiart.org

 

Dreaming: The Snake Act

Dreaming: The Snake Act

It was a day in spring

or the fullness of summer

or a twilight in September

when you took the slug from the rose

and set it on my hand.

 I didn't know that slugs

could bite, but so it was.

While the wind played like pipes

you pulled the green end--so thick so pale--

of the suckering vine from its high dark place

 in the eaves, disappeared in leaves.

It fell for hours, in sweet hissing coils

 til you cracked it like a whip and it

flashed its rainbow fangs.

Then, you gave my snakeskin secrets

to your Kardashian-assed boss

with her eyes white as vodka;

'It's all over,' you said,

as I felt the sickly flush of

being taken for a fool

yet again.

So I took a bus to California

to work the arcades

with Manny and the Batgirl

but on Sundays

I always go down

by the old river graveyard

to water the parched pots

and feed the snakes,

because I still

remember

us.

~December 2015

posted for     real toads

The Tuesday Platform

Images: Bullsnake wallpaper, via google image search

The Organic Kingdom, by Wojciek Siudmak. Fair use via wikiart.org

Moondogs

Moondogs



We stood and watched the moondog
bark in the cold white air.
Sharp lines of tree branch

scratched Hecate's iris blood-blue
with shadow. We talked all night
to a square empty world

till angles gave birth to circles.
Nothing that wasn't alive came there
where we two

stood laughing
moondogs round
our eyes.

~December 2015

posted for    real toads

Flash 55 Plus

Process note: A moon dog [paraselene or mock moon] is a relatively rare bright circular spot on a lunar halo caused by the refraction of moonlight by hexagonal plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds ~wikpedia

Images: The Borger Oak, 1919, by M.C. Escher.  Fair use via wikiart.org.

Footer: Moon Dogs by quel. All rights reserved. source: trekearth

Icestorm!

Those of you who follow me on facebook have already seen most of these, but for those who are wondering where the hell I have been lately, it is cleaning up after the Black Friday ice storm. Thankfully, no damage to the house or pick-up, and we were spared the power outages, too. Lots of work, but on the plus side--we won't have to buy firewood this year. ;_)

First, the beautiful part:

Next, the destructive:

which turned into the work part:

So, bear with me friends--we still have a lot to do, but I will be by whenever I can drag myself out of my Aleve-permeated post-hauling torpor.

The Pool

The Pool

The gypsy turned a blue card up,

the card of seventeen.

Silver-sweetened words splashed out

the dream of what she'd seen:

 

I see a star and a secret pool

between the dry trees dying,

I see two pitchers pouring out

the water of birth and drowning;

and last, I see as I grow hoarse

the truth there is in lying.

~December 2015

posted for     real toads

Words Count

Process note: The Star is the 17th card of the Major Arcana in the Tarot, and signifies one's dreams and aspirations.

Images public domain