Mythos

There is a kind of story that attracts the imagination.  Fables, Fairy Tales and Legends are favorites in depicting tales of rags to riches, monsters and magic kingdoms, sea voyages and magic forests. Myths are one of the more interesting kinds of story in terms of what they reveal about human history and human nature.  Philosophers, poets and artists turn to myths as a means of explaining the many mysteries of life as we know it.  Truth, beauty, suffering are common threads in great art.
We live in an age where many argue that myths are meant to be dispelled.  That much of what we believe can be challenged unless it is rooted in science or logic. Certainly, we live in an age where artificial intelligence has become revered.  It explains everything. 
It is a trusted predictor of odds and probabilities.  It is less flawed than human thinking. It has never been more challenging to find one’s place in the world. Identity is curated on social media platforms. Wiklepedia provides multiple answers to any one question.  Moreover, Google provides access to an endless stream of searches
In the world of literature, myths are a creative way to explain the world as we know it.  Historically, myths were looked to as a way of understanding creation. Tales of gods and their unique authority and power prevail in all cultures.  Tales that have continued to thrive throughout time, to inspire ways in which we see ourselves in the midst of change as we grow into someone of substance.
In The Myth of Sisyphus, the 20th century philosopher Albert Camus explores the notion of seeing the world as a place with no ultimate meaning.  At the heart of his observations, he calls to mind a character from ancient Greek mythology named Sisyphus.  He was punished by the gods for having cheated death twice.  For his arrogance, he was sentenced to the perpetual task of pushing an immense bolder up a mountain only to have it roll down as soon as he neared the top. At which point he starts again, for eternity.
I am currently working on a new book called Glass Footprints. It is a collection of poems inspired by the power of myth to enlighten and inform.  The image of glass alludes to transparency; and footprints, to elusive permanence. It is about the search for meaning in a world that is limited. A world in which the human spirit chooses to prevail despite impossible odds. Despite fear and suffering.  In the hope of embracing life as fully as possible.

 

Stay tuned!

 

Uphill

  

Muscles taut I bend into my burden

condemned to roll this rock without complaint

I cannot help but groan with each painful step

heaving this heavy load with all my might,

 

my heart hopeful as I near the peak

I cannot bear to step back and look down

for fear my best effort will be in vain

and I will fail as I have failed before;

 

even as I near the dreaded moment

I curse defeat before it strikes me down

knowing I am caught in a loop that spins

without a god given rhyme or reason.

 

Yet madness will not be my undoing

I dare to begin again and again.

 

cbienko

 

Christine Bienko

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