Mélusine
Once I was a beginner.
I was rain, I was rush,
I was a barbed hook,
my skull a small cage
for a fluttering bat.
Now in my latter days
I'm the zoo unbound,
furred and finned,
fully winged,
Mélusine and manticore,
cockatrice,
chimera and koala,
yin yanged as an orca
and just as
slick.
~May 2013
55 beasties, mythical and otherwise, for the g-man
Process notes: Mélusine "...is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a mermaid). She is also sometimes illustrated with wings, two tails or both... "
Images: Top: Das Lüsterweibchen, by Albrecht Durer, 1513
Bottom:Mélusine allaitant ses fils Thierry et Raymonnet. 15th Century
Public Domain
ha...what an interesting transformation you have gone through hedge...like the rain and rush...but i am a sucker for a koala too...smiles...zoo on!
ReplyDeleteSuper--AGree with Brian on all counts, a very mellifluous zoo! The rain and rush reminds me of Lear's fool's song but then you quickly take it into wonderfully quirky territory. k.
ReplyDeleteJust checking to see what you are up too in your magical zoo. I have worked on novel (and law) but already escaping into poems. Ha. Crazy. Not sure I put up though - too silly. k.
DeleteThe toads upcoming prompt Kerry is doing will b all about silly, so don't give up! I'm honing my own nonsense as we speak. ;_)
DeleteHa. I meant it was silly in the context of my announcement. The poem is serious. But silly is certainly my game, so will check out Kerry. k.
DeletePoetry is an addictive thing, my friend. I'll need a twelve step program if I ever really try to quit--and that's what happens every time I say I'm going to shut down--I've learned to add the rider "for a while," because, there is no Betty Ford Center for Recovering Poets. :P
DeleteThis just spoke to me today! I loved the pace of it and the transformational nature of it
ReplyDeleteYou know that all these creatures are Alien Hybrids don't you? But you make them seem so romantic.
ReplyDeleteYou are the Mistress of Mirthy Myth!
Loved your Zoological 55
Thanks for being such a classy Babe
( that's what hippie chicks evolve to) thanks for your great support each week, and have a Kick Ass Week End
And yourself, sir. Better an alien hybrid than a zombie mutant, I say. ;_)
DeleteOh you are much the slickness indeed, and killer besides. I love your delvings into myth and legend, which you then turn into your uniquely Hedgewitchian poems like this one. A little playfulness seems to be creeping in. think you should commune with Grumpee Cat until you right the ship! :-P
ReplyDeleteGrumpee Cat is always my guiding light--he just had several personal appearances elsewhere to attend to while I wrote this. Thanks for dropping by, Shay.
DeleteAging can be a beautiful thing! "The zoo unbound" is rather intimidating!
ReplyDeleteSo many influences in this. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThis is just wondrous! Magical and frolicsome, and sweetly slick.....like you(!). I love "I was rain, I was rush" and all the rest as well.
ReplyDeleteFast and slick, great piece! I will have to go read up on her- is she up to mischief, curiosity- or help with
ReplyDeletethe infant???
She isn't particularly mischievous, only mysterious. She's breastfeeding her infant, and presiding over her other children by a mortal man, who fell in love with her and married her with the proviso he could never watch her in her bath--when he does, and sees her true form, she takes the children and goes back to the her enchanted home in the rivers. Thanks, Izzy.
DeleteI love your theme that age brings metamorphosis rather than..well.. aging.
ReplyDeleteI especially checked to see whether you would write 55 words for G-Man this week. So glad to find this gem.
Thanks Kerry--yes, this just happened to come, or I wouldn't have. It helped that it was only 55 words. ;_)
Delete"my skull a small cage" - oooh! loved that line, hedgewitch. I've felt that before...
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful zoo trip transformation!
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous way to talk of aging. I've had those feelings but you put them in words, magical words. thanks.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Haida lore. Why it could very well be my totem (if I had one) as I can definitely relate to the imagery and what each represents. Glad I followed the bread crumbs from Talon's place.
ReplyDeleteOh yes! What a grand way to age.
ReplyDeleteSuperb. No other response but to stand and say "Bravo!"
ReplyDeleteyour bodily progression has easy flow. skull- down to wings- down to slickened tail at the end. I love when you make physical shape of your poems. It appeals to my layered visual senses. It is also quite satisfying to meet Melusine in this way, among wings, furs and fins. Orca yin yang has me spellbound.
ReplyDelete