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Sphinx

The smartest of all
Was the lion woman Sphinx
Asking her riddle
Until one answered it right
She killed herself in despair

poem by Chelsey Ferner
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A major difficulty is that the answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx is partly a product of the answers that we already have given to the riddle in its various forms.

quote by Gregory Bateson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Can Write About It, I Can't Write Some More

that is the riddle of the sphinx,
but i will make sure you cannot figure it out
that your answer shall never be right,
for i am the sphinx,
and i still do not want to die.

tell me all the lies so i may live some more.
i will keep this answer till the last breath of my life.
you shall never know it.

be human still, for i am half lion half bird sitting on a hill
challenging those that pass before me
killing them without pity

you are the chosen one to kill me
with an answer
you are the answer but you are blind still
and too dumb
for not loving me and so i live still
perhaps forever,

for i am attuned to this pain
of loving not
and truly not loving still

you, my secret, my truth, my death.
i live, and only through lies, i live and only through your indifference

you must not have the wit
you must never learn to love
for when this happens
i shall be no more.

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Uh-oh, Love Comes To Town

Wait, wait for the moment to come
Stand up, stand up and take my hand
Believe, believe in mystery
Love love love love is simple as 1-2-3
Im a know-it-all, Im smartest man around
Thats right, you learn real fast through the smartest girl in town
Here come a riddle, here come a clue
If you were really smart, youd know what to do
When...
Jump back, sit back, get back, relax
Its ok
Ive called in sick I wont go to
Work today
Id rather be with the
One I love
I neglect my duties, I be in trouble but
Ive been to college, Ive been to school
Ive met the people that you read about in books
Here come a riddle, here come a clue
If you were really smart youd know what to do when I say
Jet pilot gone out of control, ship captain on the ground
Stock broker make a bad investment when love has come to town
Where, where is my common sense?
How...did I get in a jam like this?
Believe, I believe in mystery
Love, love love love is simple as 1-2-3
Here come a riddle, here come a clue
If you were really smart, youd know what to do when I say
Why am I going out of my head, whenever youre around?
The answer is obvious, love has come to town

song performed by by Talking Heads
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My Friend How Can You Ever Trace Me In That Labyrinth?

in that labyrinth once you saw me as the minotaur
i went into hiding and changed my form
i became a faun, and when you found me with my horn and tail
and lots of hair and goat-like musk, i changed again
into another mythological animal,
a dragon spitting fire,
a centaur, a snake with eight heads,
a dinosaur, a sphinx,
a lion, an eagle,
whatever form i assumed, you still find me,
and sometimes i wonder how have you been following me
through and through in this labyrinths of my hiding
and concealment in masks and names
myriad, escapes and exits,

despite all these, you still find me.
i know one thing, but i will not tell you.

The riddle of the Sphinx
you must know, if solved, crumbles my existence
into ash,

or like a leaf, under too much scorching,
crumples me into dusts.

Please do not tell me the answer.
Make me live a little longer inside your innocence.
Let the chaos stay.

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The Smartest Monkeys

Well man created the cardboard box to sleep in it
And man converted the newspaper to a blanket
Well you have to admit that hes come a long way
Since swinging about in the trees
Were the smartest monkeys
The smartest monkeys
The evidence is all around
Our brains are bigger
This weve found
The smartest monkeys
Well man discovered the park bench can make a transition
And the rubbish tip makes a valid form of nutrition
With discoveries like these
Civilisation agrees
To give itself a pat on the back
Were the smartest monkeys
The evolutions plain to see
Were the dominant of the species
The smartest monkeys
We brought the caveman from the stoneage
To the subways of the modern world
How they pack so many in
Quick call the guinness book of records
Well you have to admit...
Were the smartest monkeys...

song performed by by Xtc
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Two Riddles. -- 1710

Sphinx was a monster that would eat
Whatever stranger she could get,
Unless his ready wit disclosed
The subtile riddle she proposed.

OEdipus was resolved to go
And try what strength of parts would do;
Says Sphinx, on this depends your fate;
Tell me what animal is that
Which has four feet at morning bright,
Has two at noon, and three at night?
'Tis Man, said he, who, weak by nature,
At first creeps, like his fellow-creature,
Upon all four; as years accrue,
With sturdy steps he walks on two;
In age at length grows weak and sick,
For his third leg adopts the stick.

Now, in your turn, 'tis just, methinks,
You should resolve me, Madam Sphinx,
What greater stranger yet is he
Who has four legs, then two, then three;
Then loses one, then gets two more,
And runs away at last on four?

poem by Matthew Prior
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But Don't Despair

Despair, if you must –
But how's it going to pull you through?
Despair, when you trust
Naught since then there's naught to do.
Despair, should you thrust
Aside your pride, your self-esteem.
And so despair, if it's dust,
The only substance that you deem.
Despair, when a gust
Of slightly breeze can break your stance.
And do despair, when lust
Is your interpretation of romance.

But don't despair, if you can care
About the plight of any other being.
And you can focus on the help,
Support, and altruistic further actions
For the seeing. Be believing,
As despair will start receding
All around – simply since you found
A way to steer you clear
From this: the very cause of your despair!

So give to others; give them all a helping lift:
Despair, you'll find will disappear –
And that has got to be a well-deserved
And saintly gift!

Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009

Rain of despair

despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair

poem by Mark R Slaughter
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An Ode to the Sphinx

2500 years after Oedipus and the Sphinx
was written
I sit in my English class
studying her riddle
as the silverfish crawls
and the fruit flies fly

a teenager, I think
no- twelve years old perhaps
we live in the toughest time

we grow; we are no longer a child
with neon signs lighting the streets
the roar of cars and trucks from city
to town and back
a man playing golf on the moon
we grow

we need to get used to our body
there's new power, new responsibilities
never known before, and we grow
we reek of adolescent growth
and in our premature fear
we fight
we fuel our wars with hatred
hatred from fear
still learning our place
not quite child- not quite adult
and the silverfish crawls
and the fruit flies fly

we fight back
when we are shown love
we cower, hold back
trying to figure out what is right
entering the world with no parent
communism
monarchy
democracy
d ictatorship
nuclear war

bombing the head, the torso, the feet
meanwhile the silverfish crawls
and the fruit flies fly
we discover ourselves in time

and now- 2500 years later
the Sphinx returns with a new riddle

The Sphinx is a girl
The Sphinx is a girl

the test for centuries
failed and failed again
this time aiming for the heart
stabbing, crushing, stomping
the fall of dynasties,
emperors,
kings,
and power
she once again seizes control
the toughest enemy...

the loneliness! that's the riddle!
twisted with fear and hope
failed and failed again
the Sphinx is a girl
lost, wandering and waiting
waiting again
waiting

and the silverfish crawls

poem by Greg Friedrich
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Riddle

One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
Monday morning was the first time
That I noticed something strange
Now I know with your kiss was not the same
Was it all just in my mind
Or was it something I should pay attention to
Then on tuesday having lunch with friends
I thought I saw your car
Leaving from our favorite restaurant but too far
For my eyes to see what I feel
Would be heartbreaking if I saw was true whoo
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
History
Its history
cause now I see, you lie
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
You gave me clues
I saw through
Now you lose,
You fool
Wednesday evening
Every time the phone would rang
Youd say hello
When Id come around youd say I got to go
Youre friends never called line two before
And I dont know nobody named tyrone
Oh now its thursday
You left the house to go to work an hour early
You said you had some papers for your boss to sign
But you left your briefcase home
And when I called you job
They said you were not there oh yeah
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
History
Its history
cause now I see, you lie
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
You gave me clues
I saw through
Now you lose,
You fool
Friday night
Is the night weve always had our weekend date
But you showed up at the house extremely late
Without any conversation you just went to bed
And said that youre head ached
Now its the weekend
And you know that its the day I do my cleaning
And when I washed your shirts I just could not believe
Im picking hair weave off your seam
Found a letter in your pocket from the week please
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
History
Its history
cause now I see, you lie
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
(while the chorus is singing)
You gave me clues
I saw through
Now you lose,
You fool
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go
One little riddle
Two little three little
Four little riddle
Five little six little
Seven little riddle
Eight little riddle
Now you know
You gotta go

song performed by by En Vogue
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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how do you know that God is a myth?

a myth
like the sphinx
and the phoenix
as the story goes
on and on
somehow
there was this death
at the end
and then immortality
in the same way
that my God
died and lived
forever

killing a myth
can be another myth
like asking how do you kill a myth
that does not exist?

when you finally give the correct answer
about our humanity
the sphinx gets killed.

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Egyptology

I am the Sphinx.
I am the woman buried in sand
up to her chin.
I am waiting for an archaeologist
to unearth me,
to dig out my neck & my nipples,
bare my claws
& solve my riddle.

No one has solved my riddle
since Oedipus.

I face the pyramids which rise
like angular breasts
from the dry body of Egypt.
My fertile river is flowing down below-
a lovely lower kingdom.
Every woman should have a delta
with such rich silt-
brown as the buttocks
of Nubian queens.

O friend, why have you come to Egypt?
Aton & Yahweh
are still feuding.
Moses is leading his people
& speaking of guilt.
The voice out of the volcano
will not be still.

A religion of death,
a woman buried alive.
For thousands of years
the sand drifted over my head.
My sex was a desert,
my hair more porous than pumice,
& nobody sucked my lips
to make me tell.

The pyramid breasts, though huge,
will never sag.
In the center of each one,
a king lies buried.
In the center of each one,
a darkened chamber. . .
a tunnel,
dead men's bones,
malignant gold.

poem by Erica Jong
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The Truth That Kills

the truth that kills
that which Oedipus brings me
i am the Sphinx
and i made the promise
the riddle
he solved it
he laid the truth before me
i am speechless
and i meet my fate
i am shattered
and he gets his due

he married his mother
he killed his father
he is faced with rage
too of his own truth
that blinds him
he removes his own eyes
from his sockets
he is ousted by the rage
of his own kingdom

the truth that kills
what freedom is there
what comfort
what annihilation
what grief eternal

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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Nature is a Sphinx...

Nature's a Sphinx. And her ordeal
Is all the more destructive to mankind
Because, perhaps, she has no riddle.
Nor did she ever have one.

poem by Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev
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It is to the Riddle of the Sphinx that I have devoted fifty years of professional life as an anthropologist.

quote by Gregory Bateson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I'm The Devil

To turn your head
to 180 degree angle.
I'll turn me to devil,
From a square to triangle,
I must take my shape.
to change the inch of
your villainous workshop,
I shall run and hop!
You the soul sucker,
the exploiter of dreams,
I can be a monster,
or an Egyptian Sphinx.
Just a head of woman,
and lion's body I need,
to annihilate you man,
to put an end to bitter deed.

poem by Nilakshi Das
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I Am The Lion

There was a flood and many poor men were killed.
And that is why our house is built on the top of a hill.
The plains are like a friend, why can't we live on them?
And if a flood should come, why can't we run?
I am the lion, bellowing out in the night.
We had a cow, I left it alone to graze.
And walked to the stream and when I returned, it was stolen away.
But now the cow is gone and we don't need a farm.
We have not one thing they
would steal away.
I am the lion bellowing out at the night.
I am the lion bellowing out at the night.
I am......the lion.

song performed by by Neil Diamond
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Bias

even when the lion
smiles at us
we still withhold
confidence
even if the lion is
sincere
and does not think of
evil
like eating all of us
as prey
we always think of
the worst
even if it is just a picture
of the lion
smiling at us
we still suspect
that this can be a trap
another deception

a lion is a lion is a lion
and will always be lion
no matter what

as simple as that
ask the wind

poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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To My Grown-up Daughter

I wish you hadn't grown up just yet.
Things were so much easier
when I could fight your dragons for you,
and you thought I was the smartest mom
in the whole wide world.
Back then, I could kiss away the hurt,
create the Tickle Monster to chase the blues,
and I understood your homework.
But you're a woman now,
grown up with a job of your own.
All I can do now is offer advice-
and hope you don't roll your eyes,
or give me that look.
You don't think I'm the smartest mom
in the whole wide world anymore.
Damn, I wish you hadn't grown up yet.

11-30-06

poem by Toni Atchison
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It is of first-class importance that our answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx should be in step with how we conduct our civilisation, and this should in turn be in step with the actual workings of living systems.

quote by Gregory Bateson
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Despair Of The Early Morning

DESPAIR OF THE EARLY MORNING

Despair of the early morning
Despair of the darkness
Despair of the Despair
Despair of Old Age
Despair of the road closed
Despair of nothing to do
Despair of nowhere to go
Despair of endless errands
Despair of money running out
Despair of the message of Despair
One transmits to those one loves.

Despair that has to be resisted
Despair that the light of the day
Will help me overcome
Despair I will pray my way out of
Despair I will in the course of the day
Sometime overcome.

Not the great Despair
The unending Despair
The final Despair.

The small Despair of who I am and where I am now.
The Despair that still can be resisted,
By the writing of a few awkward lines
Early in the morning.

poem by Shalom Freedman
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