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The Semiotics of Wrestling Minotaurs
by rayn Thursday, Apr 12 2018, 12:49am
international / poetry / post

a green-oxidised
bronze sculpture endures
in the park fountain,
water issuing from its ears
besmirching tradition
half goat, half man
playing a flute tho no water ejects
from the flute -- tho it should

the faun supports a large disproportionate
human penis erect and incongruous
among ancient greek heroes
with disproportionately tiny penises
wrestling minotaurs and slaying pythons,
begrudging it seems their tiny dicks

tourists, all fixated on the faun’s penis to the exclusion
of other heroes, comment this and that
about the erect presence, wondering but
not appreciating the expression on the faun’s face
and the geometric harmony of his cocked elbow
with knee and (bearded) chin,
truly a symmetrical marvel

it seems alive tho motionless, cursed as cast statues are
with immobility

i first saw this strange incongruent fellow
aged six or seven, i paid no heed to the penis
it was just a cock then

now much older the cast bronze ridicules my age
it remains frozen in youth and virility
tho a change has been made,
the erect penis now ejects a stream of water
pissing on other greek heroes and the inane
comments of tourists

the faun’s expression also seems slightly
altered as if mocking the living --

who tampered with its penis?
now ejecting water intermittently
as if in timed ejaculations;
indeed, it must have been a Dionysian
steeped in the cult of abandon
tho no modern Apollonian has dared
restore it to its previous inertness

the ancient Dionysian mysteries persist
in open view in a central city park
for all to see but not understand
that all we need is music