Notes from Source: Stesichoros was the author of a long lyric poem about the mythical Greek monster Geryon, who was red and had wings (and perhaps had six arms and legs), and was killed by Herakles in the tenth of his labors. Carson’s translation of Stesichoros is very free, using modern images like the coil of a hot plate and a glass-bottomed boat, a whimsy that mixes well with the poems’ whimsical hardcore redness. When they made love Geryon liked to touch in slow succession each of the bones of Herakles’ back as it arched away from him into who knows what dark dream of its own, running both hands all the way down from the base of the neck to the end of the spine which he can cause to shiver like a root in the rain. […]the wings mostly showed up when they made a good image, an imaginative line. […]there are plausible metaphorical readings: that they stand for Geryon’s difference from other people, his extreme sensitivity and creative nature.

Further Notes: Place: Iowa City Publisher: Iowa Review