You might know that I’m on Twitter, but there are a few things that I have microblogged there recently that I would like to highlight.
The first is the poem I wrote early in the current Presidential administration and that I repost on occasion:
Spring is a time when buds bloom,
leaves fan out like tiny fingers,
and birds sing in quaking trees.
How to tear up this poison
whose roots tunnel down so deep,
whose red-veined petals call out
to carrion birds, insects,
and venom in human hearts.
This is no ordinary spring,
when gardeners help it grow
rather than razing those roots.
This is no ordinary spring.
These are such strange gardeners.
The second is a thread about how we, as polytheists, have been pioneering technology use among people who are religious.
The third didn’t really come up on Twitter per se — someone made a joke about 1337sp33k on Twitter, and I remembered that I had once paraphrased the Orphic Hymn to Hermes in 1337sp33k. Today, Hellenion had an awesome libation to Hermes, and our facilitator did a great job — they deftly managed the 45-minute free Zoom limit. Given who we worshipped today, it’s fairly appropriate that I repost the 1337sp33k hymn today.
To define hymn paraphrase, I’m going to detour briefly. Unless you have studied early modern women writers, you might not be aware that psalm paraphrases were a booming English literature phenomenon. You can think of them as verse remixes/fanfics of psalms — often true to ideas seen in a religious work, but not faithful reproductions. The same is true for this paraphrase into 1337sp33k.
j0, h3rm35, 1mr 0f Z00s, M414’s s0n,
j00r H34l7h p01n7z r l3g3nd4rj, 1337m4570r 0f t3h d34d 4nd m0d.
G3n7l3 4nd l33t, 0 4rgu5-5l4j3r, j00 4r3 4 gu1d3 wh00z s4nd4lz flj,
4nd j00 wh0 l0v3s h00m4nz r3v34l t3h c0d3z t0 m0r74lz.
j00 4r3 v1g0r0us 4nd j00 d3l1gh7 1n c0mp1l1ng 4nd 1n c0d1ng 7r1ck3r135.
M4570r 0f 4ll b4535, j00 4r3 7h3 h1dd3n pr0c3ss3s 7h47 fr33 us fr0m c4r3z,
4nd wh0 h0ldz 1n h1z h4ndz t3h bl4m3l355 t3rm1n4l 0f p34c3.
L0rd 0f K0rjk05, luckj, h3lpful 4nd 5k1ll3d 1n w0rdz, j00 455157 1n w0rk,
j00 4r3 4 fr13nd 0f m0r74l5 1n n33d,
4nd j00 w31ld 73h dr34d3d 4nd r35p3c73d w34p0n 0f t3h k3y20rdz.
H34r mj pr4j3r 4nd gr4n7 4 g00d 3nd t0 4 l1f3 0f d3t3rm1n4710n, s0l1d c0d1ng, 4nd m1ndf00ln355.
This is based on the first edition of the Athanassakis translation, which has since been released in second edition. The new edition is really awesome and thick with endnotes — I use it a lot for prayers at home. 😅
KALLISTI 