The Poison Pie Publishing House presents:

July 1, 2024
Abandoning the Cretan colony and rejecting the fate of a traded good, Europe fled into the interior of the island. She had some idea of the path that the Hittite scout took when he had traversed the island to spy upon them and chose a different route into the mountains. The forest canopy shielded her from the heat of the sun, as she imagined the clamor at the discovery of her absence. An anxiety born of fear for her sister shadowed Europe's steps. She could not know that Isodemus claimed not Bernike but a prostitute as a replacement offering for the chieftain.

written while listening to:  Hans Lüdemann Transeuropeexpress - On The Edges 1 (Budapest Music Center Records, BMC CD 292, 2022, Hungary, cd, discogs.com)

July 2, 2024
Ever was the thought of death upon her mind. Europe possessed no illusions regarding her scant ability to forage or hunt. She rationed her supplies and ate only when she felt faint. She followed the path of a clear stream as she ascended the central ridge, which allowed her to leave her waterskin untouched. Despite these efforts, she would soon waste away in the forest. Dwelling on her mortality brought neither sorrow nor regret. She was free. Far better that she should perish among stately evergreens than in the stone corridors of the minotaur's domain.

written while listening to:  Giacomo Papetti Small Choices - Awake (Aut Records, AUT055, 2020, Germany, cd, discogs.com)

July 3, 2024
The solitude purged her mind. Europe saw the world with an unparalleled clarity, as if a milky film had been wiped from her eyes. Red-backed shrikes gathered in the bushes and trees in number. Behind their black masks, they gazed at the intruder and raised a raucous protest, which pierced the woods. No argument did Europe make for she accepted that she did not belong among them. Her inadvertent appearance in their midst should be regarded as a mistake, save that calling her presence here a mistake implied there was somewhere else she should have been.

written while listening to:  Max Johnson Trio - Orbit of Sound (Unbroken Sounds, U01, 2022, United States, cd, discogs.com)

July 4, 2024
There was no other place for her, unless she returned to the mines beneath Knossos, where her terrible husband raged in her absence. As she descended the far side of the ridge, the relentless song of the shrikes followed Europe until she left their territory. She faced no challenge now beyond that evidenced by the birds, namely to survive. The difference, of course, was that they had a community and a home, while she was deprived of both. Alone, it seemed an exercise in futility to wander aimlessly from one hour to the next, from one day to whatever new injury lay in wait on the morrow.

written while listening to:  Cecil Taylor & Derek Bailey - Pleistozaen Mit Wasser (Free Music Production, FMP CD 16, 1989, Germany, cd, discogs.com)

July 5, 2024
Her destination was the Hittite village on the far side of Tenedos, though she had no desire to meet anyone there. Nor did she hurry, for she assumed, correctly, that Isodemus would visit today and find a way to make up for her absence. He needn't rely upon any great act of diplomacy; had the Hittites wanted battle, they would have seized the opportunity when the colony was young and most vulnerable. Europe waited in the hills above the coast, sheltering in a shallow cave. With dark thoughts her only company, she settled in among the shadows.

written while listening to:  Keiji Haino - Un Autre Chemin Vers L'Ultime (Prele, prl007, 2011, France, cd, discogs.com)

July 6, 2024
She remained alone on a bluff overlooking the Hittites. With the deepening of dusk, the bustle of village life diminished until no sound of men disturbed the nocturnal call of crickets and the ululating whistle of bats. The stars came out resplendent in their luminous finery, intent on soothing the ache of Europe with reassurances that there was no call for such a dramatic show of umbrage over one of so little significance.

written while listening to:  The Art Ensemble of Chicago - Full Force (ECM Records, ECM 1167, 1980, Germany, lp, discogs.com)

July 7, 2024
Europe passed the following day nursing her water and rations. What activity she could spy in the village beneath her seemed no less mundane than that of the Cretan colony. The only difference was the extent of isolation; the Hittites possessed several smaller boats, which they used for regular trade with their brethren on the mainland. Europe watched a single-masted dinghy arrive in mid-morning to be promptly unloaded and restocked with crates and sacks of unknown goods. The merchants stayed for lunch at a guest house off the beach. They left soon after, desiring to make it home before dusk.

written while listening to:  François Houle, Joëlle Léandre & Raymond Strid - 9 Moments (Red Toucan Records, RT 9333, 2007, Canada, cd, discogs.com)

July 8, 2024
Having already accumulated some practice at evading guards, Europe crept into the village near midnight. Her intent was to steal one of the boats moored on the beach. A combination of confidence and hunger prompted her to pause at a fishmonger's stall at the edge of the village. She claimed two salted bream, left to cure overnight, and filled her skin with wine from an urn. Without further delay, she hastened to the beach and untied the smallest sloop. It took all her strength to position herself at the prow and push the boat backward into the surf.

written while listening to:  Michael Bisio & Matthew Shipp - Floating Ice (Relative Pitch Records, RPR1005, 2012, United States, cd, discogs.com)

July 9, 2024
The sea water felt cool on her calves, ere she leapt aboard. Her grasp of sailing was rudimentary, but as a child she had accompanied her parents on afternoon pleasure outings. There she had observed the hired bowman handle the sails as they circled beyond the port of Piraeus. This second-hand knowledge would have to suffice, as there was no time for further tutelage. Although she had no fixed destination before her and even less conviction of a clear purpose, she nevertheless felt a swell of satisfaction at having finally rid herself of Tenedos, a wretched spit of land that she had come to despise.

written while listening to:  Maria Reich - Interdependenzen (Relative Pitch Records, RPRSS028, 2024, United States, cd, discogs.com)

July 10, 2024
With the tide in her favor, she chose not to test her skill with the sail at night. In the chill air, she withdrew the blanket from the sack that Berenike had prepared. The kindness of her sister radiated a warmth, as if she yet sat beside her. Europe imagined Berenike and Kallias alone in their new home and wondered if they had already taken down the curtain, behind which she had tried so hard to remain unobtrusive. As the tide pulled her out, Europe arranged the folds of a coarse fishing net as a mattress then covered herself with the blanket. She did not sleep.

written while listening to:  Matt Mitchell - Phalanx Ambassadors (Pi Recordings, PI81, 2019, United States, cd, discogs.com)

July 11, 2024
Europe carried in her head a fantastical vision of Lesbos, engendered by the sight of the lush forests that she and the other colonists had glimpsed during the single night spent on its shore. She knew also, though only from the point of view of one relegated to the confines of the ship's hold, that the trireme had traveled north to reach Tenedos and had managed the crossing in a single day. That she could make the return trip in similar time seemed entirely plausible. Under starlight, a kernel of wary hope took root in her breast.

written while listening to:  Susie Ibarra - Songbird Suite (Tzadik, TZ 7702, 2002, United States, cd, discogs.com)

July 12, 2024
Europe had never spent a night alone at sea. Amidst, the lapping of water against the hull, she entertained the notion that doing so now represented a transformative moment. The girl who had succumbed to the demands of the gods in the Athenian lottery and who had blindly fled Crete would emerge on the morrow a woman of determination, bound to make her own way in the world. Ambiguous dreams filled her head. She did not dwell on the specific circumstances, which might allow her metamorphosis to be realized on land.

written while listening to:  Lee Konitz Quartet - The New York Album (Soul Note, 121 169-1, 1988, Italy, lp, discogs.com)

July 13, 2024
A panoramic dawn flooded the sky and cast a brilliant reflection, which stretched from the eastern horizon across the water until it bathed Europe in hues of cinnabar and coral. At this signal, she unfurled the sail. By the position of the sun did she know her path southward. A sea breeze allowed one with little experience to arrange the sail so that it caught the wind. Her movement, while modest, was nonetheless sufficient to induce a sense of accomplishment. Her tiny vessel steadily glided south, lilting only slightly to the west.

written while listening to:  John Surman - Selected Recordings (ECM Records, :rarum XIII, 2004 (orig. 1976-1999), Germany, cd, discogs.com)

July 14, 2024
The sail propelled her through-out the morning until it fell slack. Lacking a sailor's intuition, Europe could not know whether she had encountered a temporary lull or instead found herself at the mercy of a stagnant sky that would be the end of her. Sitting motionless on the featureless sea, she ate a fish and drank a mouthful of wine. She splashed seawater on her arms, legs and neck to cool down. She waited for Zephyrus to emerge from his cave and blow her craft to shore. So was her vision of self-determination soon dashed!

written while listening to:  Matteo Uggeri & Cricket On The Radio - All The Way Down (Torto Editions/Ramble Records, TRT013/RAM0097CD, 2023, Italy/Australia, cd, discogs.com)

July 15, 2024
Europe was armed with two formidable weapons. First, she remembered well a year lost in the labyrinth of King Minos. Second, a sense of meaningless abandon now permeated her. Together, they instilled in her an uncommon, though foolhardy, composure. When the winds ceased and the sloop sat idle on an unbroken expanse of blue, she consoled herself, noting that it was better to die a solitary mariner by choice than as the terrified bride of the minotaur, who lacked the courtesy to actually exist, or the concubine of a rude chieftain, whose leering gaze had been all too real.

written while listening to:  Chet Baker - Plays The Best Of Lerner & Loewe (Riverside Records, RLP 1152, 1959, United States, lp, discogs.com)

July 16, 2024
She spoke thus to the placid sea, the endless firmament, and the sun traveling an arc from one horizon to the other: "In Athens, I lived for the future, eager to grow, to learn life's secrets and to achieve the goals that my parents set before me. In the labyrinth, I lived only for the present; it was enough to survive the moment. Now that I am utterly free, I live only for the past, craving the company of those whom I have left behind. I have no plan but to wander and what purpose is there in wandering unto exhaustion?"

written while listening to:  Sonny Rollins Quartet - Tenor Madness (Prestige, PRLP 7047, 1956, United States, lp, discogs.com)

July 17, 2024
Gentle Reader, as we sit with Europe in her sloop, barely rocking with the passage of idle waves, we may recall a time in our own lives when we felt that we had reached the end of our development as a human being, when there was no perceptible avenue left for change. Decades passed and we discovered, despite this earlier premonition, that we had changed, perhaps only to soften. Even the slow, erosive dulling of time proved sufficient to cause a shift in perspective if not disposition. We suppose the same possibility yet exists for our forlorn heroine.

written while listening to:  Miles Davis - You're Under Arrest (Columbia, FC 40023, 1985, United States, lp, discogs.com)

July 18, 2024
Europe passed a second night at sea, out of sight of land. She removed her peplos and dared climb over the edge of the boat. One hand maintained a firm grip on the low point of gunwale as she floated on her back. With the water below and the stars above, she thought of herself as one stratum in the layers composing the physical world. This notion prompted the sensation that she belonged here, no less than did the fish in the sea or the birds in the sky. Hitching a leg over the gunwale, she pulled herself back into the sloop.

written while listening to:  John Zorn - The Parachute Years, disc 3 (Tzadik, TZ 7316, 1997 (rec. 1980), United States, cdx7, discogs.com)

July 19, 2024
A small, wide peninsula, shaped like the paw of a bear, reached out from the northwest corner of Lesbos, an island named Lazpa by the Hittites. From a distance, Europe experienced only a wary sense of relief. She knew better than to assume that avoiding death at sea meant salvation on land. She guided the sloop between the sharp, rock claws of the bear until she ran aground in a narrow cove. Rather than lush forest, scraggly bushes and tree heath dotted the promontory. The rugged brush did not overly dampen her illusion of paradise.

written while listening to:  Keiji Haino, Peter Brötzmann & Jim O'Rourke - Two City Blues 1 (Trost Records, TR 126, 2015, Austria, lp, discogs.com)

July 20, 2024
Europe ate the remaining fish. She rightly assumed that she had reached her intended destination of Lesbos. With Berenike's sack in hand, she set out in the afternoon sun generally along an easterly direction. She expected that the island inhabitants kept to the coast and so she did likewise. Seeking civilization, she hoped to find not only sustenance but also a wholly unsubstantiated dream of a community that welcomed outcasts, fitting them in according to their nature and talents. There was no basis for this wild speculation other than weary desperation.

written while listening to:  Tomeka Reid Quartet - 3 + 3 (Cuneiform Records, rune 525, 2024, United States, cd, discogs.com)

July 21, 2024
As she traveled along the margin between the beach and a brackish marsh, a fair number of natives took turns greeting Europe. A great spotted cuckoo called to her—krree krree krree—with a warmth that she had never previously attributed to the bird. When she paused to listen, it fluttered away only to soon be replaced by a moorhen, standing among reeds. The black fowl beckoned to her in its frog-like voice, then swam to the center of the pond, where its rounded contours and the red and yellow of its bill could be admired against the mirror of the water.

written while listening to:  Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers - Central Park's Mosaics Of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens (Red Hook Records, RH1005, 2024, Ireland, lp, discogs.com)

July 22, 2024
Europe also encountered signs of men in the remnants of campfires, black stains on the sand. Amidst the fragments of cold, charred log, green lizards stirred. Scanning the shoreline, she saw no other mark of habitation. She speculated that the crew of a passing ship had spent a night here. Knowing from her own voyage that the helmsman selected remote locations to settle down without interference, Europe supposed that she had some distance to go before arriving at a town. Her arms were tired from handling the sail and they hung loosely by her side as she continued at a leisurely pace.

written while listening to:  Keith Rowe - The Room (Erstwhile Records, ErstSolo 001, 2007, United States, cd, discogs.com)

July 23, 2024
Europe spent the night beneath the open sky. She laid her blanket on the beach, as she had during the trip from Knossos to Tenedos. From a patch of reeds just beyond the sand, the squeak of a bittern and the honk of a crake emerged in alternating turns. Europe lamented the absence of the regular breathing of Berenike and Kallias asleep on the far side of the curtain. Her silent reminiscence appeared to annoy the crake who honked all the louder, until she looked up and called over the dune, "Okay, okay, I hear you."

written while listening to:  Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet - Live In Lisbon (Clean Feed, CF063CD, 2006, Portugal, cd, discogs.com)

July 24, 2024
Europe feared being come upon while she slept, either by bandits or by a predator, the latter a baseless worry as Lesbos was home to none larger than the red fox. It seemed beyond even her own most optimistic appraisals to assume the island free of all threats. Eventually, she lay down her head and resigned herself to whatever fate the island had in store for her. It could not be said that she was part of a plan so grand that it would be counted a great loss should the flame of her life be extinguished in the night.

written while listening to:  Charles Mingus - Tijuana Moods (RCA Victor, LSP-2533, 1962, United States, lp, discogs.com)

July 25, 2024
Because she was hungry, Europe ventured away from the coast, past the wetlands to the base of the mountainous interior of Lesbos. There she eventually stumbled upon fig trees in fruit. She sated her hunger and slaked her thirst from a clear, flowing creek. With this temporary reprieve, Europe rested in the shade of an oak tree. She lay on her back with her hands folded behind her head and let the afternoon pass. She intended her idleness as a paean to the idyllic island and her disinclination for the company of men.

written while listening to:  Company - Company 2 (Incus Records, INCUS 23, 1977, United Kingdom, lp, discogs.com)

July 26, 2024
Europe soon discovered that the small copse of fig trees was connected by a footpath to a larger orchard that showed the unmistakable signs of being maintained. The path widened to a crude road, little more than a pair of ruts, worn by the wooden wheels of carts, the hooves of mules and the footprints of laborers. Because the trees were laden with fruit, Europe was not surprised to hear men's voices as they collected the harvest. She kept out of sight, although she suspected the mule brayed in response to her surveillance.

written while listening to:  Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra - Afro (Norgran Records, MG N-1003, 1954, United States, lp, discogs.com)