To Glimpse One's Future

Gwen Hutchinson kindly sent a Medusa-poem; Medusa is of course enchanted with anything that has to do with her. As for glimpsing the future, well, this week I'll be pounding away at the keyboard, putting the final touches on Snake 7. Since we're in a mythical mood (perfect for Mondays), here's a sample from Norine Radaikin:

CREATION
—Norine Radaikin, Sacramento

First water, then land, then light
then a holy oak tree providing shade
then the coyote, fox, deer
then humans—man the moon, Kuksu
woman the sun, Morningstar

both created from dark red clay earth and water,
both very white in the light of the fire
made with hands to climb to escape from bear
to live in brush shelters on the eastern shore
of the Sacramento—Kuksu to hunt bear, deer, ducks
elk, geese, quail and salmon,
Morningstar to gather seeds, nuts, berries, wild plants,
and acorns to dry and make into flour,
before the emigrants, before the reservation
before the march to Round Valley.

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Thanks, Norine! Makes ya want to get out there with a spear or a basket or something, doesn't it? Which is what Mondays are all about, I guess...

Here is Gwen's take on Medusa:


LIFTING THE VEIL
—Gwen Hutchinson, Sacramento

You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her.
And she’s not deadly. She’s beautiful and she’s laughing.
—Hélène Cixous

Snakes coil around her arms, her legs
whispering in her ear,
not of corruption, seduction,
not of destruction.

The totem serpent,
symbol of the ocean girdling the earth,
cycles of life, death, and rebirth:
the seasons.

Athene was her name in Africa,
where a serpent girdled her waist,
a sacred healing knot, and
the hair on her head—
dreadlocks.

In Greece, Zeus swallowed his first wife, Metis,
before giving birth to Athena,
Goddess of Wisdom,
from the top of his head.
Who will say this is not the birth of Medusa?
And, who will deny that Medusa’s death
gave birth to Pegasus?

To look upon the Gorgon’s face
is to glimpse one’s future,
perhaps one’s mortality before
turning into stone, symbol of the pillars
that guard the temple of
universal knowledge and wisdom.

Sovereign female wisdom: mysteries
of universal creativity and destruction
in eternal transformation.
Guardian of the thresholds,
mediator between the realms
of heaven, earth and the underworld.
Medusa is the liberating wisdom,
reflecting a culture in harmony
with nature.

She stands for all the forces
of the primordial goddess, Gaia,
the mother of all gods.
The cycles of time as: past, present and future,
the cycles of nature.
To recreate balance,
she purifies.

She is Mistress of the Beasts,
sleeping and wakeful energy,
the union of heaven and earth.
She is immortality forever shedding its skin.
The serpent at her side throughout antiquity
give immortal properties:
bleeding without wound
synchronized by cycles
of tide and moon.

Women are the dark continent,
unknowable, unexplored
with veiled, dangerous faces
longing to bring themselves into the light,
to lift the veil that hides the secrets,
the knowledge of the universe.

Perhaps Medusa laughs because she knows the truth,
and not even the loss of her head
can remove the knowledge and wisdom it contains.

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Thanks, Gwen!

Don't forget SPC's Tryst With Destiny tonight at HQ (25th & R St., Sac.), 7:30pm.

And Colette Jonopulos, who knows all about the pitfalls of editing, writes that of COURSE we get typos in our poems—it's the SKWERLS!

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their poetry and announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets.