beta and the black queen

Goddesses abound!

***

Still spending my nights plowing through The White Goddess; it makes evident my slippage from fast-reader to snail-slow. Good thing my reference in the AC article is within the first few pages. That author Robert Graves casually references 12th century esoteria and name-drops thirteen different names of tree spirits in Welsh myth doesn't help, and in fact embodies his own claims about the obfuscating nature of the Lapwing , whose role, he notes is to "disguise the secret."

***

The villainess of the Chronicles of Narnia?

***

Finally get to watch Suspiria last night, at the suggestion of Mike P. And while it has all the earmarks of Italian horror (specifically Dario Argento), meaning strange jumps in knowledge; characters that disappear for no reason; new characters never previously mentioned yet integral to the story; memory lapse; a secret clouded by temporary amnesia yet recollected at the last instant; but it's still a stunner. Even the wallpaper looks delirious, the reds always opulent and blood-tint, but the blues and greens revelatory and lavish as well. But what occult figure hides behind the evil and murder? The Black Queen.

***

Overheard on the subway, a lady discuses at great length her travails while sleeping on subways, talking to these hip-hop guys at First Ave., and a woman who has stolen her songs, to where she can no longer play the guitar, because she can't afford the amp or the socket to plug it in. She also insists that John Lennon is the next Jesus Christ, though I realize in retorspect she just said "John," which could mean anyone.

Lastly, she wants to set the record straight:

"I am not a psychotic devil, so I wish people would stop calling me that."