Monsters

According to Mark S. Blumberg's Freaks of Nature: what anomalies tell us about development, "The word Monster likely derives from the  Latin word monere, meaning to warn."  But what if you are a monster?


My good friend Z. once said to me, "A day doesn't go by when people don't think of monsters.  The threat is always present."  I think he was on to something.  And this is what aim to explore over the summer.  Monsters.


Tomaz Salamun, in his poem "Good Morning", writes "Murder is/an ingredient of love." and further states that "Lots of geniuses/killed themselves because light/tore their heads off, but that's unhealthy."


In a whisp of poetics, old-time surgeon Ambroise Pare' writes (see Blumberg again):


There are several things that cause monsters.
The first is the glory of God.
The second, his wrath.
The third, too great a quantity of seed.
The fourth, too little a quantity.
The fifth, the imagination.
The sixth, the narrowness or smallness of the womb.
The seventh, the indecent posture of the mother, as when, being pregnant, she has sat too long with her legs crossed, or pressed against her womb.
The eighth, through a fall, or blows struck against the womb of the mother, being of child.
The ninth, through hereditary or accidental illnesses.
The tenth, through rotten or corrupt seed.
The eleventh, through mixture or mingling of seed.
The twelfth, through the artifice of wicked spital beggars.
The thirteenth, through Demons and Devils.


I think, perhaps, all of these come together.  This is my summer whim—finding the monsters in my alleys.