"I think you are the only girl who will really appreciate him," Seashell told me, as she presented him to me on the doorstep one day. Good call, Seashell. We left straight for the bedroom, this horned God and I.
"My goodness me," my step mum exclaimed. "How can you keep him in the bedroom?"
"Pretty easily really," I leched. "Anyway, there's just nowhere else he should be. Imagine one of my kid's mate's mothers seeing him, when they dropped by? He has to stay in the bedroom."
I kinda got used to him being around. He was like my mate. I'd wake in the morning and there he was, my boyfriend by proxy. It is to my great regret that when I found someone else, the Horned God had to leave, exiled, his existence compromised by jealousy and insecurity.
He can draw a strange reaction from men. Bob had problems with him. Old Salt reckons he's disgusting. During his exile to a friend's house, my horned god had a sarong draped around his hips and finally was turned to the wall, to avoid offending the other house males. Now, why is this?
Like his mate Pan, perhaps the Horned God only really exists when people believe. Seashell lovingly painted him into life during her Minotaur stage. For a while he was lonesome except for other minotaurs and exquisite monsters, until he found someone else who really loved him, which was me. Sometimes, he is just too powerful but I kind of miss having him around.
This painting of the Minotaur is by Michelle Frantom. You know, the Michelle who sells Seashells by the seashore...
ReplyDeleteIt was really tiring posing for this one up on the pedestal trying to look lordly!
ReplyDeleteI like what Michele sees in me - stuff I don't know about!!
ROFL!
I love my new name. And I reckon when you have found a man who is comfortable with him, he will be the right one!!
ReplyDeleteMichelle I meant to say! :-(
ReplyDeleteI can't pin point exactly what it is, but I can see why he draws strange reactions.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly unsettling to look at, somewhat intimidating even. I don't know if it is the angle of view, his physique or the discomfort of looking at male genitalia. We are all conditioned to avoid looking from such a young age for fear of being seen as homosexual. Maybe it is simply that dicks and balls are such odd things anyway.
Consort to the goddess...... maybe we cannot see ourselves in him..... the horned god in us has died and is awaiting rebirth... the men's movement liked this idea (but hemingway would have thought them pansies)...
maybe it is the recognition that for all his power, the goddess consumes him......
there a story there somewhere
Hemingway drank too much, treated women rather badly and shot himself to death. Ruark got prostrate cancer and couldn't fuck. Kerouac died of abdominal bleeding brought on by alcoholism.
ReplyDeleteGreat writers but with that perspective, the 'pansies' are probably doing alright really! Incubate the Horned God back into existence, I say.
Actually that was a bit brusque and blithe and blithery, sorry. But I do agree there is a story in there somewhere. Go c.q!
ReplyDeleteThere is a very big story in there and this painting is just one of a series about my own internal 'psychic' relationship with the Minotaur. I could share the story, but it is too big for this forum.
ReplyDeleteCQ....it is not only men who find this image uncomfortable and for very good reasons. As Sarah said, she was the only woman I could think of who could handle this painting. I think it is time she had him back.
But nice to find some males who don't seem to be too intimidated. Healthy.
Sarah, blithe is ok! I probably wasn't clear that i don't endorse the bloody mary before bullfight before double barrel to the forehead take on things; misogynist dipsomaniacs don't seem to age so well.
ReplyDeleteI guess i was trying to illustrate a shift (pre/post fem) of ideas on masculinity and posing the question (as a male) how you redefine a male voice that embodies the power in michelle's painting.
i would like to hear that story michelle....
hah I just got slowmt, wheelchair guy's picked up on the vibe!
CQ - the Minotaur is very Alpha male and not necesarily a model I support. He is scarey, but he is an archetype and one which us women get attracted to sometimes. (I think that is possibly hormonally based though). I think the whole gender thing is pretty bloody difficult on both sides of the fence. And much more complicated than the ridiculous stereotypes that still seem to dominate. My feeling is that we are all more androgynous than we would often like to think.
ReplyDeleteI have to write up the story of the Minotaur. It will be accompanied by the images I made along the way. Some of them are a bit in your face but they are sincere. I am not sure when I will get to it but I will share it with you if you are broadminded.
He is beautiful and not in the least intimidating, his penis is neither engorged nor abnormally large as he stands waiting watching over you as you sleep. I wonder what he does when you are not looking at him.
ReplyDeleteMy word was undanut...