Saturday, May 27, 2017



Of Cities and Citybred Monsters
By © E. Antons Benjamiņš, 2017

It has  come to be that the atheist-controlled community of government has become the fake Godhead over the community of Nature. Likewise, government has made itself to become the People.

The Great Grandson of God (a play)
(A retelling of the story of King Oedipus)
Episode 5


Guard:
Here, King,
Is your elkherd!
We found him hiding
In the hollow
Of a linden tree
By the outhouse
At the edge
of the wood.

King Oedipus:
What a sack
of bones.
It looks like he
is doing
himself dead

No matter.
All I want is
is his memory implant.
Where did
The palace police
put the chip, old man?!
The nape of your neck
Or behind your navel?

Do I hear from you now
Or wait for the chip.
The mortitians
Ought be able
to retrieve it
In no time.

Strophe:
Everyone in Thebes
knows John.
When young, he was
known for having
the biggest dick
in town.
Even the Queen
is said to have wanted
to play with it.

A herder turned carpenter,
John could gain entry
Into almost
every apartment.
Many a bench, table,
And desk in Thebes
Is his handiwork.
Many a mother
(child eaten by Sphinx,
Husband sterilized
By city waters)
Resurrected their
asphiNxiated children
By wombs
Come to embrace
John’s gift
from God.

John is now
Making amends
For such trespasses
As happened
his way.

As the Savior Kings
of the woods
Used to say—
“there is no afterlife,
But life is
A continual dream.”

Though the King
Today eats meat,
And preaches progress,
John still
calls Thebes
Jerusalem,
the city of yesteryear,
a city of lambs.

Antistrosphe:
Today death
comes when it will.
We no longer
are given time to
caress the hands
That once caressed us.
Parents die
Absent their children.
Death is fled
From our memories
God knows where,
dream no more.

King Oedipus:
(turning to messenger and pointing to John)
Is this the man
You had in mind?

Is he the herder who
Refused to
become hunter
And collect taxes
For Thebes?

Messenger:
I recognize him.

King Oedipus:
What’s your name,
Old man?
Did you ever herd
The livestock
Of King Laius?

John:
That was way
Back in time
and miles from here.
It was when
I was playing
The herder’s flute
On Mt. Citheron.
It was before
Savior Kings
Had become People
And God was
No more.

King Oedipus:
Have you ever
Met the man
Who stands next to me?

John:
I cannot tell.
My memory
Has taken a spell.

Perhaps if the dust
About him
were to turn
and smell
of rosemary,
I will
Come to remember.

Messenger:
Savior King,
it was a time
past memory.
Dreams indeed fade
As evening shade
And fog fades
And erase
Both stock
And meadow.

Even so,
John knew the meadows
On Mt. Citheron
Better than I.
We once
herded our livestocks
Right next to each other.
He was older than I.
He was my mentor
For three years on.

When winter came,
We drove our herds
To the barns
Of our respective kings.

John:
May the wind
sweep you
down the mountain.
Did I give
you permission
To speak for me?

King Oedipus:
Did you ever
hand this man
a child?

That child was I.

John:
Faces change.
Some men grow beards.
Pretty girls
Lose pretty faces.
Some of us
for lack of wisdom
(not for lack of reason)
Come to look
like fools.

King Oedipus:
(to messenger)
If your friend continues thus,
I will have his
jaw bound
To his forehead
And his tongue
Will speak
never again.

John:
If a king refuses
To face the unknown
And give up life
for his people—
Who are the people,
but stray hyenas
at the carcass
of a God
who never was?

Why should I,
a carpenter, a shepherd,
or for that matter
a soldier
die
In a king’s stead?
Am I your Creator
and Savior?

There used to be
a time
When Kings were Gods.
That was when
The people
made home in the wood
and each was
his own master.
Alas! Now Thebes is
a city of fools
pretending to be
a God who is
Greater than God?

May a flood bury Thebes.
May birches grow
O’er Thebes ruins.

King Oedipus:
It appears
this bag of bones
was birthed
By a she-goat
Buffing her but
Against a fence post!

John:
I am of holy Thebes.
Not some
gasoline burping
City of thieves
Skinned by taxes,
And doped mindless
By henbane beer.

I am not of government
robbing
the Earth blind.

King Oedipus:
Where did you find me?
Was I of a whore
Or a Prince?
Did a braid of reeds
or a wire of gold
Bind my feet?

John:
Thebes is filled
With whores:
Women indifferent
to men.

For all that
Their legs
Are ever torn open
By men
And children
Born dead.

Thebe’s burial ground
Has become a
whorehouse floor.

Yes, it was a wire
of gold
That fastened you
To the crib and altar.

King Oedipus:
Whose child was I?

John:
I passed you on—
You were not mine.

King Oedipus:
Who were my parents?
Is it someone hereabout?

John:
If you were God
You would know.

If you are
of a mere King
You are lost.
It would have
been better
That wolves
Had taken you.

Why should I believe
You to be King or God?

I am a pensioner,
Not a punk,
Wearing waspish sunglasses.

My forebears home
Has been turned
by you and yours
Into wormwood.

King Oedipus:
Consider yourself
As good as dead.

John:
If you kill me,
It is you
Who are dead first.
Only fools
Will ever claim
Your body.

Mine will be leaven
From which
comes bread.

King Oedipus:
You are suicidal, John.

John:
Speak for yourself.
I will not support
your wars
either on mine
or on wood.

King Oedipus:
I have humored you
Long enough.

Guards! Come,
Be worthy of Brussels!
Twist this fool’s arm.
Let me hear
Him beg for mercy.

John:
Are you drunk
In Beijing’s gutters,
Or chewing coca leaves?

King Oedipus:
Guards! Do it!

John:
No! No! Wait!
I will tell you
Something
That will make you
Die laughing:

That wire of gold
That bound your legs,
I gave
to your mother,
The woman you married.
The Queen of your court.
The Queen of Babylon.





Saturday, May 20, 2017



Of Cities and Citybred Monsters
By © E. Antons Benjamiņš, 2017

It has  come to be that the atheist-controlled community of government has become the fake Godhead over the community of Nature. Likewise, government has made itself to become the People.

The Great Grandson of God (a play)
(A retelling of the story of King Oedipus)
Episode 4


Messenger:
Good day, dear people!
Am I come 
to The holy city 
of Thebes?
Is this the kingdom
Of the Sacred King Oedipus?

Strophe:
Good day,
Traveller, yes,
This is where
King Oedipus Rules.
All Thebans praise him.
He’s transfoormed
The lone altar stone;
Look! into hundreds of
Living homes.
Prosperity rules here.
People, once abandoned
To the wood,
Build new settements
Over old ravines.
Every day hundreds
Of ludies.
(once known as
‘fairy people’)
Abandon the wood.

Messenger:
Can some one
Go notify the King?
I bring him
Important news.

Antistrophe:
What kind of news, stranger?

Messenger:
I bring news
About his father.

Strophe:
You must be
From Corinth,
The holy city were
Princes Europa
Found refuge
(At King Polybus’s court)
From the pricks of
Viking stabs.

Guards! Go, hurry!
Run to King Oedipus!
Tell him the king from Corinth
Sends him a messenger.

(King Oedipus comes on stage.)

King Oedipus:
News from Corinth
is always
welcome at Thebes.

Hail, messenger!
How goes it with
The King and Queen of Corinth?

Messenger:
Great King of Thebes,
May children love you
Until the end of time.
Humankind will never forget
Your heroic deeds.
May forget-me-nots bloom
And remember you
with joy.
I beg your forgiveness,
Great King.
I bring unpleasant news.

King Oedipus:
As if I don’t already
Have enough of them.
Just yesterday
A desert storm blew
Over the city.

With every bundle of sagebrush
Another serpent rolls in
for a visit.
Rats infest our granaries.
Good man, start your story
with the good news.

Messenger:
Of course, great King!
If the sun shines
From behind dark clouds,
The clouds are rimmed
By a golden crown.

King Oedipus:
That makes
A wonderful sight.
However, I need
More than a mirage.

Messenger:
King Oedipus,
The holy city of Corinth,
Sends me to ask you
To become our King.
Our cityzens hope
That I will return
With a ‘yes’ from you.

King Oedipus:
What has happened
To King Polybus?
It is he who is your King.
What’s happened to him?

Messenger:
Great King,
Here’s the bad news:
King Polybus has diedn.

King Oedipus:
God!
What was the cause
Of his death?

Messenger:
It happened unexpectedly.
Comes a certain age,
Death does not need
An invitation.
To come visit.

Strophe:
Cursed be death!

Nevertheless, tis said
That death brings
People together.

King Oedipus,
It is almost unbelievable!
The holy cities
Of Thebes and Corinth
Will be bound
And become as one.

Your kingdom will double,
great King!

King Oedipus:
Guards! Go call
Queen Iocaste!
Messenger,
I thank you.
I love my father,

But a crown of gold
Girds his deathbed, indeed.
No doubt, your reward
For the news’
Will be a tassle
of gold rings.

(Queen Iocaste arrives,)

King Oedipus (continues):
Queen, Iocaste,
Take a deep breath!
My father,
The King of Corinth
Has died.

Queen Iocaste:
It is a great loss.

King Oedipus:
Corinth sends an invitation
For me to become its King.

Queen Iocaste:
Did’nt I tell you?
That all will end well?

King Oedipus:
But my mother
Is still alive,
And I must put up with.

Antistrophe:
Be careful, King,
What you say!

Queen Iocaste:
King Oedipus,
I was told that you
Had good news for me.

King Oedipus:
The good news made me
Forget for a moment
The curse of the witches.

Messenger:
Did I hear
your highness connect
your mother’s name
with a curse?

King Oedipus:
Yes, indeed!
Her paps never gave suck.
She was happy
To pass me on to a wetnurse.
Her milk was bittersweet.

Messenger:
But your mother, King,
Always spoke kindly of you.

King Oedipus:
My father’s death
Reminds me of
a long forgotten
Curse of a witch.

Messenger
Excuse me, Savior King,
If I may ask,
What was the curse?

King OedipusL
A long time ago,
When I was but a teen,
And lived in Corinth,
A witch visited me,
And foretold
That for lack of
My mother’s teats,
I would sleep with her,
And kill my father
In jealous rage.

Queen Iocaste:
The news from Corinth
Tells that no such curse
Is in force.
Your mother laments
Your father’s death,
And she needs you
To be beside her.

No less, the cellars of Corinth
Need to inventirized.

With regard to your mother’s
Dry paps, it is not unusual
For women to go dry
When some anxiety
Assails them.

This may cause
grown sons to dream
of foregone suck.
It happens
As all herders know
with buffalo cows.
Do not, my Kin,
Upset yourself unnecessarily.

Messenger:
Is it really true,
great King,
That you
Fear your mother?

King Oedipus:
I fled Corinth,
Because I did not wish
To kill my father,
Nor sleep with my mother.

Messenger:
Great King!
I then have
truly have good news
For you!

The curse of the witch
has no truth to it!
You have no reason
To fear it!

King Oedipus:
How dare you
To contradict me!

Messenger
Forgive me,
Greatest of Kings!
I tell the truth:
The King and Queen
Of Corinth are not
Your true parents!
You are their stepson!
You are a gift
Of the Gods to them!

King Oedipus:
I just promised
To reward you with gold.
Yet you, miserable scum,
Neither of the wood or the city,
are already betting
your neck or double the prize.

Messenger:
I swear
by the mighty Zeus!
And his son Jezeus!

The royals of Corinth
Were childless!
It was the Gods
(mysterious are their ways)
Who put you in their laps,
as mysteriously
As they put you into mine.

King Oedipus:
You foul mouthed finch!
Who put me
Into your hands?

Messenger:
It was the chief elkherd
Of King Laius.
He found you laying
On the altar
on Mt. Citheron.
You’d been put there
As an offering to the Gods.
My friend removed
The loop that bound
Your heels
One to another.

King Oedipus:
Who bound me?

Messenger:
In those far off days
It was not seldom
That royals,
Even who ruled cities,
were in despair
for their lives.
Still, they held
to the old customs
of the wood,
And offered their children
(To make sure
Of their favor)
to the Gods.

King Oedipus:
Is this friend of yours
Still alive?

Messenger:
He was with King Laius.
Thebans ought to know.

King Oedipus:
Queen, Iocaste,
Have you ever heard
Such dreck?
Do you know
Of such an elkherd?

Queen Iocaste:
Since when,
dear King,
Do you listen
To the fairy tales
Of donkey herders?
Leave the story be
the talk of fools.
It is time you raised
The flag of Thebes
to half mast.
Call the guards
prepare your palanquin
and run to Corinth.

King Oedipus:
Let the guards wait awhile.
If that elkherd is alive,
I will soon learn the truth.
Perhaps
he still has the loop
That crippled my legs.

Queen Iocaste:
King Oedipus, please,
A funeral
And a new Kingdom awaits you.

King Oedipus:
It is time for me to know
If I am the son of a whore
Or of royal blood.

Strophe:
There is an old saying:
‘Kings in a great hurry
May overtake the Gods,
But will soon slip
In their own shit.’

King Oedipus:
Guards, hear!
Bring to me the elkherd.
Let us open the old sack
For its memory.

Antistrophe:
We fear!
A great chill has seized us!
Something frightful
Is about to happen.

Strophe:
My sweet child,
Is your mother
A maid still innocent?
Or did a goatherd
Already jump her
And tickle her ribs
With his knees?

Sweet, child,
But perhaps
your mother was
a whore already.
Or did she luck out,
And find favor
In the bed of a King?

(From backstage, comes a screech and many voices in great commotion. The nurse Iananna rushes on stage.)

Iananna:
Gods! Gods!
Where are the Gods!?
King Oedipus,
The princes,
Eteokles and Polyneices.
Are at each other
With knives.
Help! Gods!

Chorus:
All the world
Has gone mad.
A catastrophe is afoot!

Iananna:
Polynices kicked
his foot
into the stomach
of Princess Antigone.
I heard
the child there
cry.