I turn and open a trapdoor into myself and fall into the void

I emerge fully-grown from the brain of my father

 

O pallas self! Beautiful Self! Self made of stars and void!

Self made of questions! Self made mad by questions!

 

I launch into the sea and afterbirth searching

How shall I find home now the goddess is dethroned?

How shall I set my compass without a Penelope?

 

Wandering, the stars and current guide me to Polyphemus

Here I let the one-eyed monster impale me, ravage me with his insatiate hunger

And I scream blind orgasmic praise to Poseidon Earth Shaker and ask his blessing

This he gives and a surprise legacy too

 

Adrift again I wonder on my raft is Tiresias a top or bottom?

Switch-hitter, obviously, that wise old tranny

But he is gone and I am gone

 

And I look toward Heaven and see that God is in his place and I am in mine

On my feet On my back On my knees

 

Shall I grow a beard to point the way?

Who will be my shelter from the storm?

If we assume that all green plants are attempting to accomplish the same basic thing (i.e. photosynthesis) and we then stop to consider the great variety of shapes and sizes of leaves, stems, etc. we come up with a dizzying number of ways to achieve life in the plant kingdom. If we use this as a model for human consciousness we begin to get an idea for the infinite possibilities of individual as well as group identity whether it be secular, religious, political, etc. Given this diversity it is a wonder we manage to communicate with one another at all and truly a miracle that a forest is able to grow in harmony and achieve equilibrium. I try to keep this in mind when I am in conflict, because, in reality, some people are sassafras, and some are oak, but both are just looking for their place in the sun.