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Fall 2012: Mermaids and Other Tales

A Reconciliation.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by Regina Stribling.

In the Pacific, there is an island held in a time locked tesseract. Ancient civilizations overlap with modern ones. Every now and again circles of time overlap, creating a unique opportunity for transformation in multiple dimensions.

On this particular day, the overlapping time sequences collaborated on the honeymoon of the god Triton and goddess Aida. Once humans, they are now fully realized. Aloft on a grand purple and golden water lily boat, Aida and Triton relax, cuddling each other, eyes closed.

In flight on warm air currents over the ocean Bald Eagle cried, “Shriekah! Shriekah!”

In the distance, a thousand feet in the air, flew several fleets of Geisha headed directly toward the ocean, on a mission. One Geisha dove out of the sky like a kamikaze fighter pilot. All other Geisha followed her.

The target. A WWII Navy Fleet Battleship. The Battleship Amache. The USS Amache is filled with Navy Americans of Italian, Japanese, and German descent, 18-25 years of age.

Bald eagle flew headlong toward Triton and Aida’s boat; grazed the top of their heads.

He thought to himself: No matter how much I shriekah, they’re always asleepa!

Bald Eagle cried, “The divine wind is on its way! Take heed! Take heed!.”

Geisha attacked the Navy warship with their chopstick poison darts and dynamite entrapped bodies! One of the mighty Geisha crashed aboard the port side and exploded upon impact.

The large European American as Commander of the ship shouted with a Southern drawl, “Get ’em boys! Get those prostitutes now! Kill them all! No woman attacks the Amache and survives!”

One of the Japanese American Seamen aimed an anti-aircraft gun at the Geisha and held back. He couldn’t bring himself to kill, not this way. A German American at the next anti-aircraft gun shot two Geisha in their hearts just as the women were about to aboard the ship!

A loyal Italian American Chief Petty Officer whispered to the Commander, “Wouldn’t it be better to bring them on board? You know, real gentle like and…(making sexual gestures).”

The Commander smacked the Chief Petty Officer hard across the cheek!

“But isn’t that what they are there for, sir?,” the Chief responded.

“They are a degradation of our society idiot! And they are attacking us!” the Commander retorted in his thick accent.

“Yes sir!,” the Chief Petty Officer saluted and walked down the deck toward the men. He walked to the bow of the ship and peered at the ocean. Chopsticks from the kamikaze Geisha hit like darts all around the USS Amache. Two chopsticks pierced the Chief Petty Officer in the heart, killing him.

Dead Geisha floated by the starboard side of Aida and Triton’s boat. One Geisha buoyed face up with her blank eyes toward Aida as she looked overboard. Grooves created from tears, ran from the corner of the Geisha’s eyes down her cheeks and stained her white powdered mask. Red dripped from the faint smile on her mouth. Lipstick mixed with blood.

All of a sudden a partially dead Geisha with eyes blown out, grabbed the boat’s bow! Then another maimed Geisha with stumps for hands grabbed the port side of the boat, The boat keeled further into the ocean!

Triton swiftly moved to the back of the boat and Aida moved to the bow. Both Geisha loosened their grip dying in the ocean.

“We have to stop this!,” Aida yelled to Triton.

“Us? This is not our time period. Who are we to interfere?”

“These women are dying!,” Aida exclaimed.

“And they are attacking that ship!,” Triton countered.

“We are out here for a reason Triton! We can neutralize the situation at least.”

 

“They are ignorant humans fighting one another! What do I care if they all die?,” Triton responded with a wave of his hand.

Aida’s eyes wrinkled into stern beads piercing Triton. “That’s a very self-righteous response.”

“I suppose once a God always a God.”

Aida implored, “We are seeing this war scene because we hold aspects of it inside ourselves. Otherwise we wouldn’t be witnessing it! Don’t you see?”

Silence. Aida moved into a meditative pose, clasped her hands together and chanted in gaelic. “Táimid ag oscailt suas i thabhairt suas milis le solas grá gan teorainn an ceann. Táimid ag oscailt. Táimid ag oscailt.”

Suddenly a large flock of white doves circled around the Geisha in a quivering cloud.

Triton immediately chanted in sanskrit. “Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum.”

An enormous black octopus’s arms grabbed the bow of the USS Amache and pulled it slowly into the ocean.

Pushing under the cloud of doves, the Geisha bombed the battleship with their bodies and chopsticks.

Disoriented at the chaos, the Navy seamen yelled, “Take them all!” The battleship fired the big guns on the octopus and maintained focus of the anti-aircraft on the Geisha!

Aida’s mouth dropped open in surprise and anguish at the war scene.

“We’ve definitely made the situation worse,” Triton said gravely.

Aida looked at Triton with tears falling. “It’s because you and I are working against each other Triton! These women are not wretched, they are sacrificing their hearts and lives for humanity!”

“And the men are reacting out of fear and rage! They don’t know how else to respond. They are sacrificing their lives out of duty,” Triton suggested.

Triton took Aida’s hands in his.

Triton implored the energy of the Dark Mother, “Dark Mother, Queen of Fiery Purification, you came to me during a time of destitution and pride. From your hidden secret well, your fiery truth did burn. I ask you now for your power of transformation to seize this moment and unleash the truth!”

He chants, “ Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum…”

Aida requested the energy of the Bright Mother, “Bright Mother, Queen of Heart, I call upon your power of Compassion. Show us the neutrality of Love in this unfathomable battle. Long ago you cradled my unforgiving heart, I ask you now to hold us in your loving arms.”

 

She chants in tune with Triton, “ Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum…”

From the center of the boat arose an energetic blue and red geometric star tetrahedron. The harmonic geometry levitated above the lily flower boat and surrounded it.

In deep meditation, they chanted together, “Táimid ag oscailt suas i thabhairt suas milis le solas grá gan teorainn an ceann. Táimid ag oscailt. Táimid ag oscailt,”

Triton and Adia opened their eyes simultaneously and said, “Crystalline Activation of the Cosmic and Earth Grids!”

“Cosmic Grid Align!” A column of white light from the upper apex of the Star Tetrahedron ascended to the Pleiadean star system creating a Stellated Cosmic Grid.

Ripples formed in golden amber waves for miles around encompassing the USS Amache. All of the men on board fell temporarily into a trance. The octopus released the warship and dove down into the ocean.

“Earth Grid Align!” A column of light from the lower apex of the Star Tetrahedron glided down into the ocean.

Aida shouted, “There’s a block to activate the Earth!”

Triton, “It’s the Dark Mother. I can feel her! What at first appears to be a challenge, may in fact be an opportunity!”

The octopus streaked black liquid into the column of light! The boat spun out of control! Triton created red, blue and amber light orbs in the musical tones of C, A and D. The orbs danced together in harmony with the white doves.

Aida opened her hands. A blue orb formed in her left hand and a red orb formed in her right hand. The orbs merged into a vesica pisces, and toned together to create the human harmonic of B flat. Aida moved her hands in a figure 8 which plunged the orbs into the ocean and penetrated the right eye of the octopus.

The octopus launched out of the water just as a rogue Geisha chopstick punctured it in the head! Upon impact, the octopus altered into the Dark Mother. Hovered above water, the Dark Mother appeared as a Geisha with white painted face, black kimono with a red dragon imprint, and a red feather boa around her neck.

Abruptly the white doves circled around the Dark Mother in a harmonic song. Singing in tones, “Ahh, Oo, Eeee, Iiiii, Uuu” Those with ears to hear translated the doves’ tones into English, “We are opening up in sweet surrender to the infinite love light of the one. We are opening. We are O…opening.”

Dark Mother’s laser eyes beamed a circle of yellow-green light. The doves reversed position and formed into the Bright Mother wearing a gown of white feathers with WWII US Navy Admiral insignia. The Bright Mother danced above water facing toward the Dark Mother.

The lily boat stopped spinning and Aida smiled with conviction, “ Let the Bitch showdown begin!”

Triton, “Indeed!

Aida whispered, “While they battle let’s sneak in the Crystalline Activation.”

“Is it always business with you?,” Triton grinned.

“Almost,” Aida winked, grabbed Triton by his tunic, and kissed him.

Dark Mother raised her arms. Her fingers vibrated the ocean into boiling scalding temperatures! Bright Mother blew a strong wind with her lips. The steadfast wind cooled the ocean and whipped around Dark Mother like a tornado. Dark Mother pushed the wind tornado behind her in a rush! The tornado transformed into enormous white wings attached to Dark Mother’s kimono. Dead Geisha awakened! Geisha arose from the bloodied waters, two on each side of Dark Mother. The Geisha outstretched Dark Mother’s wings like gallant support posts of a Shinto Shrine.

They sing:

“Ancient Mother I hear you calling.  Ancient Mother I hear your song.  Ancient Mother I hear your laughter. Ancient Mother I taste your tears.”

The Geisha wrapped themselves into a cocoon with the Dark Mother’s wings.

Chanting from the cocoon: “The Ocean refuses no river, no river, la ila ha, el ila ah hu; la ila ha, il alah ha hu”

The white cocoon spun slowly into a counterclockwise spiral like a suspended conch shell above the deep indigo ocean. Black octopus tentacles poked through the cocoon!  After the third rotation, a thin long red dragon emerged and ignited the black and white spiral on fire! Out of the blaze, Dark Mother shape-shifted into a Phoenix! Burning into the starry night sky, she flew with her tail shimmering in flames. After reaching the Pleiadean Star System, she charged back down toward the ocean.

A green seaweed circle floated on the surface of the ocean underneath Bright Mother. The full moon reflected on the water at the center of the seaweed
like a scintillating white pupil amongst a radiant green eye.

The Dark Mother Phoenix flew boldly around Bright Mother and dropped a very large golden egg. In a blink of an eye, thirteen white doves generated a nest made of white dove feathers! The golden egg landed safely in the nest.

Silence: the indigo ocean became very still and dark.

Aida and Triton sat in their boat, back to back, spines aligned in meditation.

Underneath the boat, a beam of white light penetrated down into the core of the Earth.

The golden egg slowly dropped through the seaweed and hung suspended in the center of the column of light.

A pinkish yellow haze dissolved Aida and Triton’s boat causing the egg to break open. Dawn touched the horizon as a small luminous pearl arose out of the golden eggshell and became a rainbow in the sky! Atop the rainbow emerged a golden lotus flower with a golden aura.

A few of the survived Seamen aboard the Battleship Amache became conscious. Slowly blinking their eyes, the seamen awaken as if from a dream.

Grandmother sea turtle swam near Triton and he grabbed hold of her shell. She carried a large conch shell in her mouth. Triton blew into the end of the shell and played a trumpeting melody. Dozens of sea turtles swam in a large circle.

Aida sang in Gaelic inviting the dolphins. As she sang, a dolphin swam nearby and she grabbed onto its fin. Dozens of dolphins swam and jumped in circles. The sea turtles and dolphins swam in unison like an ever-moving figure 8.

An orchestra of harmonious music played in celebration while the lotus detached from the rainbow, and gently floated down to the ocean. Tenderly rocking on the waves, the lotus revealed a new born baby! Dolphins jumped around the baby as music resounded for miles around.

Triton and Aida swam toward each other; embraced and kissed in the ocean. A sonic boom blasted rainbow light, then white light, then amber light!

The green flash of dawn’s early light subsided. In the distance, Bald Eagle landed on a very torn and blasted Battleship Amache. A Japanese American Seaman saw the Commander and crawled over to him.

“Sir?,” the Seaman questioned.

“Yes, Seaman.” The Commander shook his head and knocked it from left to right with his hands.

“What happened to us out here?”

“This is what you would call a secret mission never to be talked about again,” the Commander coughed.

“Okay. But what do I take away from this, I mean, you know, so I don’t go crazy,” the Seaman asked.

The Commander’s Southern drawl expanding, “Well, this is what some folks might call, A Reconciliation.”

“Uh, Sir. In plain English,” the Seaman coaxed.

“We just made peace with our very own demons, Seaman. Our very own Demons.”

Philo’s Magnet Motor.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by Paul Rogov. It defied the laws of physics. The Black Operations of the National Security Agency tried to corral him. Journalists, interested in renewable energy, tried to pick his brain. You-Tube watchers—so drawn to the intrigues surrounding what seemed to be a simple experiment—tried to replicate it and claim victory for themselves. Philo, a […]

The Mermaid in the Mikveh.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by Alena Deerwater. Oy! The year of my thirty-ninth birthday I gifted myself three days with a hoard of Jewish women in the woods sans children.  At the time my daughters were seven and four and my entire life. This was the first time I was leaving them for more than twenty-four hours. I could […]

Kinfolk in Kelp.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by Marie Davis & Margaret Hultz. Mona was an upstream mermaid, the kind of fish and woman who when swimming along, if she found life pleasantly passing, would swish tail to fin and begin swimming in the opposite direction. Obvious to all, Mona, with her fragrant curves snuggled in sea kelp, was only at home […]

Larissa and the Mermaids.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by Teresa Milbrodt. I spent four summers with the mermaids, seven of them with gray curls and glistening green tails who sat at the city pool and played in the shallow end with little kids, yelling at them not to run too fast along the pool’s edge, applauding them when they did underwater handstands, and […]

Mermaids Reading.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by David Gordon. Once there were two beautiful mermaids, mother and daughter, who roamed the salt seas. They swam gracefully through the waves and beneath the water’s surface. Warm ocean currents carried them along and they covered great distances very quickly. They never went on shore, but sometimes swam close to land to sun themselves […]

Not a Can of Tuna.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by David D. Horowitz. I think a mermaid’s stuck in our net! I hollered to the deckhand of my little trawler. It was our tenth day at sea. We had just emptied our catch into the storage tank and ice bins and had put the net back into the water, when I saw her: golden […]

Sirens.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by Diane Mierzwik. Now Circe had warned Ulysses about the Sirens; and so he prepared for this danger…” – The Wandering of Ulysses, Gladys Davidson   I was substitute teaching for Peckham in a classroom at the corner of a maze of a building with long, nondescript hallways and doors like every parole building I’d […]

The World Falls in Love.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by Kelsey Liu. Every year the planet falls in and out of love with itself. It starts with spring, like it always does. The Earth gives itself flowers every day in hopes of winning its heart: roses, lilies, even petunias. It gets constantly rejected by coy frosts, but perseveres by making the trees bud green, symbols […]

For a Cloudy Day.

August 29, 2012 by Exangel

by Marissa Bell Toffoli.   Shrouded in mist like this morning, each of us before another. Understanding seems a ship sailing a rough ocean.   It is how wholly human we are that scares me. See how I fidget with the rings on my fingers, look away and back again? (I am uncomfortable.)   Sometimes […]

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In This Issue.

  • Who Was Dorothy?
  • Those Evil Spirits.
  • The Screaming Baboon.
  • Her.
  • A Tale of Persistence.
  • A Conversation with Steve Hugh Westenra.
  • Person Number Twelve.
  • Dream Shapes.
  • Cannon Beach.
  • The Muse.
  • Spring.
  • The Greatness that was Greece.
  • 1966, NYC; nothing like it.
  • Sun Shower.
  • The Withering Weight of Being Perceived.
  • Broken Clock.
  • Confession.
  • Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse.
  • Sometimes you die, I mean that people do.
  • True (from “My Life with Dogs”).
  • Fragmentary musings on birds and bees.
  • 12 Baking Essentials to Always Have in Your Poetry.
  • Broad Street.
  • A Death in Alexandria.
  • My Forked Tongue.
  • Swan Lake.
  • Long Division.
  • Singing against the muses.
  • Aphorisms from “What Remains to Be Said”.

In The News.

That cult classic pirate/sci fi mash up GREENBEARD, by Richard James Bentley, is now a rollicking audiobook, available from Audible.com. Narrated and acted by Colby Elliott of Last Word Audio, you’ll be overwhelmed by the riches and hilarity within.

“Captain Sylvestre de Greybagges is your typical seventeenth-century Cambridge-educated lawyer turned Caribbean pirate, as comfortable debating the virtues of William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, and compound interest as he is wielding a cutlass, needling archrival Henry Morgan, and parsing rum-soaked gossip for his next target. When a pepper monger’s loose tongue lets out a rumor about a fleet loaded with silver, the Captain sets sail only to find himself in a close encounter of a very different kind.

After escaping with his sanity barely intact and his beard transformed an alarming bright green, Greybagges rallies The Ark de Triomphe crew for a revenge-fueled, thrill-a-minute adventure to the ends of the earth and beyond.

This frolicsome tale of skullduggery, jiggery-pokery, and chicanery upon Ye High Seas is brimming with hilarious puns, masterful historical allusions, and nonstop literary hijinks. Including sly references to Thomas Pynchon, Treasure Island, 1940s cinema, and notable historical figures, this mélange of delights will captivate readers with its rollicking adventure, rich descriptions of food and fashion, and learned asides into scientific, philosophical, and colonial history.”

THE SUPERGIRLS is back, revised and updated!

supergirls-take-1

In The News.

Newport Public Library hosted a three part Zoom series on Visionary Fiction, led by Tod.  

And we love them for it, too.

The first discussion was a lively blast. You can watch it here. The second, Looking Back to Look Forward can be seen here.

The third was the best of all. Visions of the Future, with a cast of characters including poets, audiobook artists, historians, Starhawk, and Mary Shelley. Among others. Link is here.

In the News.

SNOTTY SAVES THE DAY is now an audiobook, narrated by Last Word Audio’s mellifluous Colby Elliott. It launched May 10th, but for a limited time, you can listen for free with an Audible trial membership. So what are you waiting for? Start listening to the wonders of how Arcadia was born from the worst section of the worst neighborhood in the worst empire of all the worlds since the universe began.

In The News.

If you love audio books, don’t miss the new release of REPORT TO MEGALOPOLIS, by Tod Davies, narrated by Colby Elliott of Last Word Audio. The tortured Aspern Grayling tries to rise above the truth of his own story, fighting with reality every step of the way, and Colby’s voice is the perfect match for our modern day Dr. Frankenstein.

In The News.

Mike Madrid dishes on Miss Fury to the BBC . . .

Tod on the Importance of Visionary Fiction

Check out this video of “Beyond Utopia: The Importance of Fantasy,” Tod’s recent talk at the tenth World-Ecology Research Network Conference, June 2019, in San Francisco. She covers everything from Wind in the Willows to the work of Kim Stanley Robinson, with a look at The History of Arcadia along the way. As usual, she’s going on about how visionary fiction has an important place in the formation of a world we want and need to have.

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