Mythdemeanors
I got a chance to make some pictures for a book of Greek myths, told in verse, by my friend Scott Emmons
Echo and Narcissus
or
I Only Have Eyes for Me
By Scott Emmons
Quite often in a fairy tale
A maiden meets a macho male
and soon becomes his missus.
But myths are apt to culminate
In sorrows like the tragic fate
of Echo and Narcissus.
Now Echo was a nymph, they say,
As sweet and mild as creme brulée
and also nearly mute.
She'd parrot back the final word
(Or two or three) of all she heard,
which in its way was cute.
Narcissus was a comely youth,
A pretty boy to tell the truth,
well-built but not too burly.
Surprisingly, this handsome hunk
Was chaste enough to be a monk,
though centuries too early.
One day the youth was hunting deer
When Echo glimpsed him from the rear
and felt the flame of passion.
She thought the words she couldn't say:
"I'd pluck his bowstring any day!"
or something in that fashion.
She threw herself into his arms,
Bedazzled by his boyish charms
and badly overheated.
"What makes you think I want you?" said
Narcissus, quickly turning red.
"I want you," she repeated.
Narcissus sneered in sheer disgust
At Echo's raw, unbridled lust.
"Control yourself!" he sputtered.
"My striking looks, which should delight me,
Just keep coming back to bite me!"
"Bite me!" Echo muttered.
With that she slunk away to hide.
She felt as if she could have died,
which would have been her choice.
Her body shriveled as she pined,
Then disappeared and left behind
her disembodied voice.
Now many girls had been through hell
(And truth to tell, some men as well)
for love of proud Narcissus.
They called upon the gods above,
"May he soon feel the sting of love,
so cruelly does he diss us!"
The gods of vengeance heard their prayer.
Narcissus passed a pond, and there
he saw himself reflected.
"By Zeus!" he said, "I never thought
A bod could be so firm, so taut,
but now I stand corrected!"
He couldn't pry his eyes away,
And so he lingered all that day
beside the placid pool.
"Don't torture me, don't turn aside,
Just kiss me, fool!" he fondly cried.
And Echo whispered, "Fool!"
Attempting then a close embrace,
He tried to kiss that godlike face,
which only brought him woe.
Instead of touching tender lips,
He ended up imbibing sips
of tepid H2O.
He languished in his lovesick mood
And wouldn't eat a speck of food
or even take a shower.
At last, it's rather strange to say,
He morphed, and to this very day
Narcissus is a flower.
Before the change, he beat his breast
And wailed, "I'm ruined like the rest
by passion for Yours Truly.
I've come to see my pride was wrong.
I can't believe it took so long!"
"So long!" said Echo coolly.
Prometheus
or
Come On Baby, Swipe My Fire
By Scott Emmons
(EXERPT)
Prometheus the Titan
was a rebel through and through.
A wily and resourceful sort,
As all the ancient bards report,
with quite a high I.Q.
His life's a fascinating story,
Though some may find it rather gory.
He loved the race of mortal men,
though they were coarse and gritty;
And watching them from up on high,
This kind and sympathetic guy
was overcome with pity.
To make their lives a tad less squalid,
He thought he'd do them all a solid.
For mortals had it rough back then.
They couldn't get a break.
They couldn't light a cigarette,
Flambé a simple crepe suzette,
or even grill a steak.
To sum it up, their straits were dire,
For Zeus refused to give them fire.
Prometheus went straight to work.
He swiped a spark and stowed it
Inside a hollow fennel stalk,
Then nonchalantly took a walk
and hurried to unload it.
The mortals cheered his daring plot.
They knew the merchandise was hot!…
…
Pandora
or
Who Let the Plagues Out?
By Scott Emmons
(EXERPT)
Zeus's wrath had not abated,
Still he fumed and fulminated
Once he'd fixed Prometheus
for bringing fire to man.
"Humankind," he said severely,
"Has to pay, and pay most dearly!"
So, with vengeance in his heart,
he made a cunning plan.
Seething in his agitation,
Bent on swift retaliation,
Judging that for vexing men
there's nothing like a dame,
He had Hephaestus do his duty,
Fabricate a buxom beauty
Just to rock the boat a bit.
Pandora was her name.
Warmly welcomed by the mortals,
Much to Zeus's grins and chortles,
Down she came, and brought along
a giant earthen jar.
At once she opened this container.
(Sadly, no one could restrain her.)
Then all earthly ills escaped
and scattered near and far…
…
The Tragedy of Oedipus
or
Confessions of a Drama King
By Scott Emmons
(EXERPT)
…
…The jig is now up for poor Oedipus Rex; it's
The height of the drama. The tension's immense.
With cries and laments, all the company exits,
Allowing the chorus to give its two cents.
Then in comes a messenger straight from the palace,
Reporting a ghastly and violent scene.
The gore's not explicit, but though we may miss it,
The words are decidedly PG-13.
"The queen," says the herald, "withdrew to her chamber
And hanged herself there when she saw what she'd done.
The king then burst in and recoiled to discover
The corpse of his wife and his mother in one.
In madness and grief he cried out to the heavens.
'Whatever possessed me?' he wailed through his tears.
'My spirits are sinking, my head could use shrinking,
And Freud won't be with us for three thousand years!'
He borrowed two pins from the queen's royal garment
(For in her position, she couldn't protest)
And stabbed out his eyes, crying, 'All that I look on
Is evil, unclean, or disgusting at best!'"
The herald has come to the end of his message
When Oedipus enters, much wiser, though blind.
"Although I'm a pitiful sight," he confesses,
"I'd just like to share what I've got on my mind.
I once had it all, but succumbing to hubris,
I acted at times like the King of the Jerks.
The great lord and master is brought to disaster.
It's brutal, but hey, that's how tragedy works!
And now it's goodbye to the crown and the kingdom.
I'm finished in Thebes, so I'm going away."
Then, led by his daughters – you might say his sisters –
Poor Oedipus exits, and so ends the play.