“The architecture of the Minotaur’s heart is ancient. Rough hewn and many chambered, his heart is a plodding laborious thing, built for churning through the millennia. But the blood it pumps—the blood it has pumped for five thousand years, the blood it will pump for the rest of his life—is nearly human blood. It carries with it, through his monster’s veins, the weighty, necessary, terrible stuff of human existence: fear, wonder, hope, wickedness, love”
(The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, Steven Sherrill)
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The Desire of the Monster, or Half-Monster
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A redwood falls towards the mountain summit,
Against the downward plummet, the dead branch’s leaves
Are growing towards the sun.
They must have existed thousands of years ago,
Sequoias, unable to give up
In any way, thankful that there
Is no surrender known to the society
Of the tallest forest. Knowing is only
That growth is finished, no competition.
To be the tallest of all life,
Happy to breathe the thinnest air.
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Fallen trees, however, they still breathe
Through every leaf.
The bark however, the skin falters,
Lying wood beams stuck against
The friction grass and intersections
An impossible maze to trespass
Over the trunks of no soul, suffering,
Lying, bodies without heads, born without
Heads, on top of each other.
Soldiers with no words lying on battlefields
They wished to be bloodied,
But are simply clean and dirty with
Dust.
So weak it can’t stand the air outside
A dedicated maze.
Is it the paralyzed soldier
In a fallen wood, or reversed:
The weight of sequoias chosen
To fall upon a trustful adventurer
In the wood that had never fallen before.
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Slopes of the mountain range,
Do they have life?
Could the growing ground,
Grass and flowers emerging,
Blooming in variety, it is fine
If they are squashed by running feet,
It gets harder and harder for the excited Greeks.
Growth is wilder at the top,
Flowers of unrivaled beauty
And grasses and pretty ferns floating
Gently under them. Yet there are no trees.
Animals and other wild creatures live on the slope,
They don’t care how high and have
No ambition of reaching the summit:
Birds fly high as possible and descend
On to people’s shoulders, perched like a kind companion.
Do the corruption of the skies
Enable sirens to fly towards pollution?21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTb5R82ASSf
No, all life on the way to Mount Olympus
Is kind and friendship, and lives
On the radiance of the Sun,
In the Sun, that is where Apollo lives,
And hides his 11 friends in
The breathtaking blindness of
Unplanetary light, it is a home of heaven,
Arrogance is unpunished and Gods be gods,
The residents of Gods can be happy as they please,
Forever, and indefinitely.
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How can the gods
Endure the work of intersection,
Planes to walls and dead ends,
Trampling over the barriers of
Mt. Olympus’ maze. Is it to
Test their will, which should be indomitable?
Did they really have infinity in
Intelligence, or rather the birth
Of winged feet, to fly over human tests?
If the humans knew so, how could demigods
Become heroes, more so the normal,
Which had blessed the inner fight,
Uncharacterized by demon or divinity.
Suffocation and breathing thin air bordering
The edges of the dome some other God
Had created; that is immune to discovery.
Had Apollo been placed underwater,
Would he have been drowned like
Flooded human beings, at the mercy
Of King Poseidon. How could suffocation
Be divinely suffered, it must be the ordeal
Of the God who had been punished by
An enemy element, and ascertained that
His realm is above that of hell,
Just like the underground nature of
Poseidon’s sea underneath the kindly
Air reaches from the water’s surface
And tastes freshest and sweetest in the
Cloudy lair of Dionysus’s grapes,
Bleeding the awakening senses of
Wine. The only fluid that flows,
Tastes as it was made, and can Intoxicate
Into shameless happiness. Yet Dionysus,
He never became shameless and vindicated
Like the perverted Aphrodite, whose
Outward beauty became a reframer of womens’
Jealousy to hide the venom towards unknown
People down below, completely hidden
Her heart impenetrable by Cupid, impenetrable
To logic and loyalty, escaped dissolving
Of Poseidon’s salt. Salt is tasted while sinking
Unconscious into blue depths, that is just
Sensory surroundings, nothing impenetrable to
Be tasted as vast element has power
In closure and sedation, to blackness.
One can not, and does not need,
To wake up and see the darkness that
Poseidon’s floor and light of the heavens
That can’t reach the bottom of Poseidon’s
Depth and despair.
It was Poseidon’s sin, that went without
The glare of his brother, underground Hades,
Who had to surge through the layers of earth,
Earthquakes of millions of deaths, unchosen
By dead spirits, to cross the river of fortune
And await their fortune telling in Tatarus,
Where they had already forgot themselves
And detached from their sinning selves.
Earthquakes erupted because of Hades,
That was how real he was, and people refused
To admit his mortal existence, because that 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38raSJVJm5
Was all they knew about the hated creations of 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7voWwmcab8
Gods, only to create, but not to drag
Beneath mortal existence. Sorrowful
Creations of separate realms, that
Divided people to those who were in the overworld,
It seemed permanent. What an evil invention.
Thus, people built Hades no temple, as if
He existed in folklore and his fictional body
Created the hated punishment of death,
He was the fake god, to many, and to others,
They renounced Hades as the third brother
Of the 3 realm Gods, because, he
Was too powerful, surpassing Zeus definitely.
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No innocent life would breathe
Xed out air, the fallen trees that form x’s,
Laden with grief and lifeless, but
Were they so lifeful when erect?
Obviously, only giants of exactly equal stature,
Their heights have been measured and compared,
From the gods drawing compasses
Around their location, and with their elevation
At the stars of their claimed constellations,
They drew around and felt the distance
With their eyes, navigating the loss
Of floating and magic of flying, that
The gods have been granted with.
Now, these giants are just trees,
Wanting to lie down permanently in shame,
Their wish has been granted, for nothing could
Shy them away from standing up in giant size,
Shameless intimidation with no force,
Blocked by the aura of the flying gods,
They were blessed with magic,
While the giants were only born with strength,
No ardor either, that could be blamed, just
Pride in their deathly stomp that cursed
Innocent lives, a multitude of victims.
The Giants had a wish to take over,
And death to the plebians, but they were
Not even self-blessed, they wavered,
They fainted,
And the fell to the ground, unconscious
Meant death. They could not cease
Their sentience in the biological sense,
But getting back up was not in their inspired
Will, tasting food was only tasting when
The object was food. They were monsters,
And they did not hate themselves for that,
Because they didn’t belong to the spectrum
Of hate and love. Inhuman, giants.
Too big for the world to see.
The eternal sleep of giants,
no myths to be left behind.
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Alas, one giant, wanted to survive,
So he did. He wished to be feasting, alive,
And evil, rather than dead, and a mystery
Of the fiends he had served, as was
The abominable decision of the lying giants,
The giants who had shrunk into trees on
Mt. Olympus’s slope.
His horns were symbolic of his hopes
And stronger will, when that of the giants,
Were pure barbarians, and the slaughter of animals,
It was their primary occupation. He was given
The tale of false folklore for his royal birth.
He was such an intelligent monster, the most intelligent,
To breed with the bull, the beauty that even the gods had
Bred with to save themselves; however,
Through mating, he became the child itself, the deathly
The ghost of the giant he was before, had died within itself.
The death had clumped into the stomach, as he was
What he ate. Flesh partitioned off, while outside flesh decayed away,
Slowly, from the outside in,
And the inside flesh, of course completely and thoroughly,
Rotting within the giants, in a way people can’t see.
The inside flesh was unrotting, sliding down the esophagus,
Into the stomach, a dark dome of broiling and cauldron of
Organic material. It took the magic of acid only,
To awaken the monster and form moving muscles.
The outside was in a dead state, and unlike the human mother
And her womb, the skin was peeling away from the dead part
Of the monster, all the way to the inside dome,
Where the revived flesh of the monster was
Recooking and celebrating with the feast of the bull’s flesh.
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Yes, that is the secret. The bull’s flesh was
The product of mating, and mating meant not
Love and marriage, because that was impossible
For the brain of the monster and the bull, either one,
To engage in.
Mating was eating, was consuming flesh, really.
It was one, the stronger, the monster,
Taking over the weaker, the animal, the meaty object of desire,
To prove that although the desired of the monster was also a creature,
It was truly inferior, to be beastly was to be different from a wild animal.
And peeling away skin, that is shedding, that takes
Some conscious creativity, doesn’t it, if the monster did it first
After the giants had hibernated and it could remember that they
Never took care of their outer skin.
What did the monster look like,
He had two horns, and the acid had injected the
Previously giant, with acid, to fuel the 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTKFO49TOp7
Eyes rolling around in their sockets and seeing
Viciously, with clarity and outline for the victims
Of his feasting. Why did he need to eat those that
Deserved to live more? Why was he born to be an animal,
Born to be evil, and born to be an evil animal?21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XldAVuSHs
One day, he asked this question, and because he
Suddenly had grown up to see that his intelligence
Was quite superior in a way. Just because one’s deeds
Have to be satisfied, and one can easily complete the evil,
Doesn’t mean that their souls were broiling with evil,
Evil solutions wakened the evil eye,
No that was for the superstitious, and weak,
As it was called from the monster, now named the Minotaur’s
Perspective. His two horns reminded of a bull;
Presently, he had the trademarks of the parent
He had defeated, but he also wanted to defeat his
Royal parents, who had built him the maze of his
Self-defeated companions, the redwoods, they were cut
And ground into the walls of the labyrinth,
A strange architect he thought, called
Daedalus made. And this was called genius?
The Minotaur thought in his own
Intelligible words, What is genius?
To bring a torturing and trapped maze
To a truly innocent and passionate creature
Of different form, and calling it ugly to
Shield himself away people, who in intelligence,
Seemed to be inferior when known in detail
For their superficiality, and some he heard
Had great amazing thoughts, unrecognized,
Or did great, understanding and compassionate deeds for others,
But were totally misguided and ignored,
By words of admiration.
Was it sad, that he was stronger than the 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOv1B7EgMp
Attacks of mortals,
Or enviable. Either response seemed entirely
In the world of fairness, as opposed
To killing him and risking many own lives
As a eulogy to his abominable existence.
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He wanted to speak, but he was not even sure,
If mortals could be convinced, if they were
Already so evil and conniving to him,
And clearly wanted to end him.
The Minotaur wanted to cry out, “Help,”21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtvkkUxkYtv
Once, if the gods allowed him to even,
One word, to show his remorse
For his inevitable needs, and desire to be
Spared, but the calculating and hateful
Humans. He desired so harshly, so strongly,
And so helplessly, to be spared and understood,
Some other solution, to satisfy his
Simple desire of human flesh, as what he ate,
Was not just what he was. That was the way of giants,
Who could be likened to great falling trees
With who and what they did: stomping and
Trampling human beings.
But he had a brain, separate from his
Tasting and hunger, insatiable,
The hunches that he felt, were just such strong leanings
Inside his brain only, and powerful visions
And images projected to his vision,
Which also saw dead heaps of meat and flesh
Offered to him solemnly for being born a monster.
His brain and visions was what others could not see,
Only his house by Daedalus and once living
Victims were shared by sight.
He had of heard of many things, the Minotaur,
And how that is unknown,
He felt cursed that he was blessed with the physical
Advantage, and it couldn’t really called a gift,
Because how he was simply born with
Such a sole offering to his new nature.
He really wanted more to himself, more
Like humans, and his recreation would have been,
Luckier. Far away, he saw the most treasured members of 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGGBVyPn7w9
Society, somehow their brains were superiors,
Scientists was what he was thinking about
In the Minotaur’s language, his own special
Invention, that no one cared about because
They were just sounds, and it was a fact
To them that they had no meaning.
It wasn’t the humans’ fault that they couldn’t
See more or imagine more to it.
Alchemists, mixing potions,
And brewing special remedies for the terminally ill,
That was the fruit of a life-changing work.
Whatever produced to others, was in the nature,
To benefit and serve society, and be worthy 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYAIxMhloo
Of the highest honor.
But what was in the Minotaur’s nature, to be 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Yj1KQ3Cc5
Done to those treasured around him?
To feast and dine like an animal was his chief
Action, and no matter the vitality of his thoughts
And wonderings, no one sought to understand him,
Thought there was any more to him anyway,
And treasured his good hope as only
A race out of the Minotaur’s maze, as it was called,
Would be genius for him, and it was already
Unanimously thought so.
Why the scientists and ‘geniuses of humanity’,
Were so futile for him?21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjUJtcZBfD
Daedalus working against him,
The gods’ opinion unknown to him, because like
Humans, he probably could not see one in person,
Those myths of people were banned to be discovered,
And not known to the rest of humans,
So it seemed. And some disobeying after contact
With the gods written in the holy books,
Were cursed to be trees and think of a tree,
From tree respiration only, beauty,
Only on the outside was the punishment 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡphVtX5nDZh
By infinitely cruel beings, and speech withhold,
Thoughts, the state of, also unknown whether it even
Existing to that current being, just growth along the branches
Could be felt, and cutting it down, it was never
Even conceded in the books the Minotaurs
Heard of, because he could somehow understand
Human speech without the contour of the language.
But it was still blasphemy how the god cursed to be
Animals, and worse, nature, could be ended
With one chop of a sword or knife.
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To be seen but not see, is the worse curse
And the greatest evil of all, and it seemed
To be done by the gods.
Yet the stupid humans thought they were
Above in believe faith and art, these things
Always falsely connected in the Minotaur’s opinion:
To be elated in imagination because of the
Quality of creations and stories the upper generations
Had cursed the fearful and diffident, yet superficial
And boisterous sometimes, humans to truly believe in.
That was how fragile the humans were, to
Pray to false myths and stories of long ago
And boast that their belief made them larger than
Beasts like the Minotaur, who they never could have thought of
To know how great its understanding was.
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Curiosity failed the humans and they created another myth,
Which was just like a news to the whole Athens,
And closed off to the rest of the world 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnduoFesmp
Which had not written of the Great Minotaur in its books,
And happened to give it a fair chance.
Why half-beast and half-human occurred,
It didn’t occur to the analysis of the human scientists,
Which the Minotaur greatly wanted to rely on,
Please ask the right question, the Minotaur thought
To himself, in his hybrid language that no one could understand.
Half beast and half-human, how was it allocated
Along the miracle of conception, and realize, the Minotaur thought,
That from the birth the biology of the human’s nature, split with,
As he put it, the beast’s nature, was it the difference
Of the brain’s species, and the body’s form?
The Minotaur desperately wanted the human geniuses,
The hopefully were smart in their innovation, but 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpn5y44RxQT
Were they smart enough to endeavor into the human’s brain,
To find out something about the Minotaur, himself,
That they had been henceforth misunderstanding, some strange
Demonstrations of intelligence, that couldn’t be and did not
Need to be put into human words.
To be capable of be born greatly and astoundingly in intelligence,
In a beast’s body, investigate cyclopes, they are not yet extinct,
The minotaur thought. He thought he was so superior to the 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6V0u4BQobw
Scientists to be afraid of extinction of the cyclopes, for somehow
They would be killed by the humans for their hooves,
And flagrant antics with no human cooperation in
Any of their hooved dances, their bleats and look-around
Purviews were all their knowledge to the world. It is true,
Said the intuition of the Minotaur.
His extinction was incoming, that made the desperation
Of the poor creature greater every moment
From the harsh realization in his mind, from then on.
Desperation in the creature was self-evaluated
To be the same feeling in humans, who had less,
Because they were more fortunate, and that couldn’t
Be acutely envied because the creation of such an inequality
Couldn’t be concretely investigated and explained
Unless with forceful telling of the gods.
Desperation continued in strength, from the
Moment of that visceral need’s start, it increased
Because inaction had followed time and it wasn’t that
The people were getting angrier,
But they were just as afraid and wary of the Minotaur for his needs
As he was when he had started feasting.
He felt not sorry for himself, not horrible about himself either,
He could not possibly, because it was his nature and he
Could not help it.
The Minotaur prayed to the gods, but he was smarter than the 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCnQ75gm6h
Humans to be godless. That was the only difference between them,
But it didn’t make the difference between what
Happened to them, society and beauty, versus
Ugliness and ravaging. He couldn’t be societal, really,
Because there was none like him.
He was great in intelligence; no, the gods knew only that he
Was the greatest in intelligence, but the humans disrespected him, 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUwPRvsjKR
A foolish feeling to be felt with strength when the 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJsVeHUvf8H
Also feared his monstrous fashions.
The most intelligent was the most ugliest,
A poetic question to pose when asked to be born the most beautiful
Or most intelligent, those with heart and mind would choose the21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9yRgD5O78
Latter easily. However, the gods chose the best for him, it seemed, 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jAIulRxv7
The intelligence, but beastly and evil passions that roamed
Like animals had befallen him and attached
His miraculous brain to a beastly body always hankering.
This was not the curse of the gods, rather the blessing of the
Gods and horrific misfortune,
But the Minotaur still didn’t believe in the gods, and didn’t
Change what couldn’t be changed.
The gods existed, that was what they built for him inside his 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82qOUWhSuk
Brain and everything and what everyone could appreciate
About him, was the Minotaur’s intelligence.21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF63IEtvE0Y
But it was beyond the god’s powers to bless him with
Winged feet or elegant song because those were
The superficial talents they had been born with
Out of nowhere, to be beautiful, not necessarily intelligent
At all, but also possibly very intelligent, and unfairly
Bestowed with the power of bestowing other’s
Intelligence with random fervor and sudden favor.
It was the hierarchy of the world that was wrong,
The gods with their limited powers and lack
Of control over fortune that was given
To the scientists who didn’t know to redirect their biological
Miracles of alchemy and science, naming them the greats of society,
To correct the beastly misfortune that the Minotaur had fallen to.
Scientists could be greater than the gods, but really not possible.
The gods knew everything, including this,
The humans of any intelligence could not understand
The misfortune of the minotaur, because they didn’t 21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3JnVZMUXz
Care to study it, or know how to correct this misfortune.
It was just to be like this.
“The architecture of the Minotaur’s heart is ancient. Rough hewn and many chambered, his heart is a plodding laborious thing, built for churning through the millennia. But the blood it pumps—the blood it has pumped for five thousand years, the blood it will pump for the rest of his life—is nearly human blood. It carries with it, through his monster’s veins, the weighty, necessary, terrible stuff of human existence: fear, wonder, hope, wickedness, love”
(The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, Steven Sherrill)21Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3ONQLqjos
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