Poem: "Enki's Messengers"
Jun. 11th, 2011 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the June 7, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
haikujaguar which reminded me of the myth "The Descent of Inanna" in which Enki creates two beings. Sometimes rendered as 'two sexless beings,' the kurgarra and galatur may also be presented as a hermaphrodite and a neuter. So here's a look at the two of them together and how they interact in ways that are not made explicit in the myth ... but are somewhat implied by the wider context of Sumerian mythology and history. You can also find some images from this myth online.
This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $.50 per line, so $5 will reveal 10 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses. So far sponsors include:haikujaguar, general fund
haikujaguar has offered to illustrate this poem with a sketch if it gets sponsored. The first $5 has come from the general fund following this month's poll; I rounded up slightly to reveal two verses and give the poem a good headstart.
75 lines, Buy It Now = $37.50
Amount donated = $5
Verses posted = 2 of 10
Amount remaining to fund fully = $32.50
Amount needed to fund next verse = $4
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $3.50
When Inanna's pride had taken her to the Underworld
and Erishkegal had hung her sister's corpse on the wall
and the servant Ninshubur had begged Enki for his aid,
then the true magic began.
For Enki had been out working in his garden,
and he brought forth dirt from under his fingernails,
which he fashioned into two creatures:
the kurgarra, both male and female,
and the galatur, neither male nor female.
Then Enki sprinkled the food of life upon the kurgarra
and the water of life upon the galatur,
and they became alive.
[To be continued...]
haikujaguar which reminded me of the myth "The Descent of Inanna" in which Enki creates two beings. Sometimes rendered as 'two sexless beings,' the kurgarra and galatur may also be presented as a hermaphrodite and a neuter. So here's a look at the two of them together and how they interact in ways that are not made explicit in the myth ... but are somewhat implied by the wider context of Sumerian mythology and history. You can also find some images from this myth online.This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $.50 per line, so $5 will reveal 10 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses. So far sponsors include:
haikujaguar, general fundhaikujaguar has offered to illustrate this poem with a sketch if it gets sponsored. The first $5 has come from the general fund following this month's poll; I rounded up slightly to reveal two verses and give the poem a good headstart. 75 lines, Buy It Now = $37.50
Amount donated = $5
Verses posted = 2 of 10
Amount remaining to fund fully = $32.50
Amount needed to fund next verse = $4
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $3.50
Enki's Messengers
When Inanna's pride had taken her to the Underworld
and Erishkegal had hung her sister's corpse on the wall
and the servant Ninshubur had begged Enki for his aid,
then the true magic began.
For Enki had been out working in his garden,
and he brought forth dirt from under his fingernails,
which he fashioned into two creatures:
the kurgarra, both male and female,
and the galatur, neither male nor female.
Then Enki sprinkled the food of life upon the kurgarra
and the water of life upon the galatur,
and they became alive.
[To be continued...]
