01 Kalliope, Muse of Epic Poetry
I’m drawn to Kalliope who can sing for days
her verses flowing without end
one night I sat by her as she sang
her epic poems to the stars
she says they are not so long
not even a light year long
they are intricate their metre complex
and rhythmic so you can dance
as she sang it seemed that the stars came closer
the trees huddled around us and the whispers
of animals could be heard in the forest
before I knew it I could hear the rushing sound
of a stream just out of reach
I listened and watched the night through
woke to the sound of a trumpeting swan
the clatter of grasshopper wings
02 Polyhymnia, Muse of Song
I thought Polyhymnia would be a walk-over
a softie away with the fairies her head
in the clouds but this Muse is serious
she is sacred through and through
whether it be poetry hymns or dance
its her eloquence that lifts her and us
she is solid too in her farm boots
turning the soil following the ox-plough
digging weeding and harvesting
then come the celebrations of harvest
pantomimes for which you need
geometry to organise a stage
Polyhymnia is queen of silence
meditation more than a hobby
on Parnassus she listens to the
oracles of Pythia nothing is lost
it was her son Orpheus who picked up
the lyre and revived the dead
03 Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy
in your boots you stomp around the stage
with your knife your club and that hideous mask
life is tragic enough without making it ugly too
your sting is like that of the bee whose honey
is sweet but the bite can kill that’s how the tragic
arts are we are all engrossed in the story
meanwhile our lover has died of heartbreak
or lost dreams or serial disappointments
we all think we are immune to tragedy in our lives
until it strikes without warning like lightning flash
there is no way back we are all changed
by those moments when we had hoped for joy
Melpomene sing your dirges for me so that
I might haul myself up unwrap the cloths
split the hard chrysalis emerge transformed
04 Ourania, Muse of Astronomy
Ourania is an enigma
she is invisible in her starry robe
against the darkening sky
but each clear night we stand
watching her movements
darkness is in her she is
the dark matter that fills
the universe the dark energy
that sparks everything
in the day she has a golden
orb around her as she rides
the sky in a boat laden
with songs carries a globe
constantly spinning
Ourania full of magic
is the first astronomer
Uranian once considered
a tragic pronouncement
who knows what goes on
in that heavenly soul
she is old and young
she is light years away
and right here now
just as we are here
and are everywhere
but in fireworks of celebrity
unseen unheard unknown
05 Erato, Muse of Lyric Poetry
everything always lovely
her eyes her hair the way
she moves her body
Erato is like the sea
washing up on the shore
rising and falling in waves
poets call on Erato in their
darkest moments when love
turns sour or the stars cross
and when inspiration fails
they call her then too hoping
she’ll stand by them in love and lyric
it’s partly her fault because she
shoots words into the sky
like arrows and whoever
feels those arrows falls in love
with the next person they encounter
but who can get angry with Erato
so full of grace she picks up her lyre
sings with a voice that is as clear
as a night sky filled with stars
06 Kleio, Muse of History
when history is in dispute
who can you trust but Kleio
she was there and if not her
then one of her sisters
her kinship is wide enough
to draw in the world
it’s not in the telling
but in the unravelling
who speaks true who does not
one will claim celebrity status
say fame is the key to import
another says the least known
are the most trustworthy
for they have nothing
to gain or to lose
the poets too stay firm
to their metre there since
the beginning of time
history in the making
is a troublesome way to go
for only later can we see
the made and the unmade
so unravel your tales
and I will weave them anew
07 Euterpe, Muse of Music
Euterpe is in her own heaven
the fifth dimension where
beyond human perception
play the music of the spheres
music from every time
and every place
Euterpe is well-schooled
in these matters
she is the muse of music
music creates pleasure
which in turns leads
us to dance
some say Euterpe
is the brightest asteroid
in the solar system
Pythagoras string theorist
and mystic mathematician
gave Euterpe
the number eight
that coiling infinity
ogdoad like a dancer
endlessly spinning
to the sound of
the double flute
astrophysicists
are divided some
think Euterpe might
be responsible for dark
matter but some things
are unaccountable
08 Thalia, Muse of Comedy
it’s hard to be funny
when Thalia abandons you
but each of us has to get up
draw on inner reserves
and make one more joke
Aristophanes managed it
and you can too bring on
actors and instead of high
boots make them wear socks
dress them in rustic outfits
put a shepherd’s crook in
their hands – I know more than
enough about droving sheep
to laugh at myself – then she
can start her bucolic verses
accompanied by comedic
flourishes a few stereotypes
here and there won’t go astray
put a buffoon at the centre
and his air-head wife
she can parrot some phrases
give the quiet one a trumpet
to blow away sadness
don’t worry there will be
a happy ending now sing
along with me it’s simple
tiotiotiotinx sing again
the bird never tires calling
sing blow that trumpet
recite the verse and be happy
09 Terpsichore, Muse of Dance
I write in fragments
because that is how
our history is recorded
whether it’s Sappho
Corinna or Roman
Sulpicia
Corinna is called
by Terpsichore to sing
for the young girls
women of Tanagra
wear the white peplos
their
garments are ornamented
with stories tales from
the old mothers
the girls dance to the
partheneia calling one
another
sounds whirling down
the valleys to the
rivers below the cliffs
their voices rising
to heights where
birds fly
grasshoppers
spring and spin
in death throes
returning after death
to the Muses’
home
there sit the Muses
each with her own
sphere Terpsichore
brought the Sirens
into the world
singing
she is the ennead
containing others
she turns gathering
all in her dance
ending the beginning
beginning the end
I wrote this sequence during 2016. The Tenth Muse, Sappho is included in my novel Dark Matters (2017, Spinifex Press) as are references to the Mother of the Muses, Mnemosyne.
Meet Mago Contributor, Susan Hawthorne