The Poison Pie Publishing House presents:

January 1, 2025
It is a habit of idle individuals with time on their hands to devise arbitrary categories by which to understand people. Being just such a person, the author suggests a binary taxonomy in which there are only two varieties of people—those who find an intrinsic meaning in their existence and those who do not. Among the latter, there is a further dichotomy into those who are able to make peace with a meaningless world and those who fight it. Melite, the heroine of this tale, offers a lesson in grace, which blurs these distinctions.

written while listening to:  Emanuele Maniscalco - From Solesmes To Solanas (self-released, no catalog #, 2015, Denmark, digital files, discogs.com)

January 2, 2025
Only child of Tricorythus, nobleman of Athens, Melite knew a pampered upbringing. Her mother embraced no calling save to tend to husband and daughter, and her devotion to family was flawless, as if the inclinations of her nature could not have been more perfectly aligned with the actuality of her daily life. From the moment that Melite was wrapped in swaddling cloths of fine linen, she enjoyed a maternal warmth as reliable as the coming of dawn. Shielded from adversity, Melite had little opportunity to develop the ordinary mechanisms for coping with hardship.

written while listening to:  Guillaume Gargaud - She (Utech Records, URCD027, 2009, United States, cd, discogs.com)

January 3, 2025
Melite grew into a gentle adolescence. Petite in stature, adults tended to her as if she were younger than her years. Such treatment did not disturb Melite; she wanted for nothing and the desire for freedoms outside her experience had not yet entered her heart. Her mother cupped her daughter's round face in her hands. She gazed into the large doe eyes and ran her fingers over the full cheeks and heart-shaped lips. She drew a deep breath with her face buried in the long, straight, brown hair. Her senses could not detect the dire trials soon to come.

written while listening to:  Magda Mayas, Christoph Erb & Gerry Hemingway - Hour Music (Veto Records, d005, 2024, Switzerland, digital files, discogs.com)

January 4, 2025
Before her forced exodus from Athens, the singular trait of Melite's character was already plainly evident. No one could do her injury for she forgave everyone and everything. We offer no justification for this idiosyncrasy. We do not believe this quality to have been intentionally cultivated. On the contrary, it appears that Melite was simply made to forgive. So many things in the world come out wrong. To pardon transgressors is, of course, a virtue. However, to do so without exception is incongruous with the reality of the world, then and now.

written while listening to:  Derek Bailey - More 74 Solo Guitar Improvisations (Incus Records, INCUS CD60, 2010 (rec. 1974), United Kingdom, cd, discogs.com)

January 5, 2025
When Melite was sixteen, a festival honoring the city's patron goddess, Athena, arrived with the usual fanfare. The celebration, held every four years, included religious services at the temple on the Acropolis, dramatic performances at the theater, and athletic competitions in the stadium. The games attracted Greeks from far and wide—Sparta, Thessaly and even distant Massalia. The Cretan prince Androgeos distinguished himself in two ways, first by his athletic prowess, sweeping competitions of strength and speed, and second by his boorish gloating, which persisted far into the nightly bacchanals.

written while listening to:  Keiji Haino - Live February 21, 2008 (Purple Trap, 001, 2008, Japan, dvd, discogs.com)

January 6, 2025
Had it been left to Melite, she would have forgiven Androgeos his excessive boasting. Young men, especially those with royal blood, were not known as paragons of humility. However, others in Athens proved less understanding. On the last night of the festival, fueled by too much alcohol, a group of local youths ambushed the Cretan prince, putting an end to his insufferable bragging and leaving him dead in the street. The killing of the decorated athlete was the talk of the town on the following morning. In markets, gossipers debated whether the fate was deserved.

written while listening to:  Joëlle Léandre - At the Le Mans Jazz Festival, disc 1 (Leo Records, LR 458/459, 2006, United Kingdom, cdx2, discogs.com)

January 7, 2025
Melite would also have forgiven the murderers for their crime, such was her nature. However, a week later when King Minos, visiting Paros, learned of his son's death, he was not so accommodating. To the contrary, he assembled an army and shortly brought war to the walls of Athens. Melite's experience of the siege came only through scarcity due to rationing of provisions and whispers shared by women visiting her mother. It was said that Minos had failed to take the city. Yet he remained outside the walls, as famine approached and pestilence invaded the lower ward.

written while listening to:  Susan Alcorn - Sur (Uma Sounds, no catalog #, 2024 (orig. 2002), United States, digital files, discogs.com)

January 8, 2025
Rumors circulated in the city that, upon the advice of the oracle, four sisters had been sacrificed to avert the plague. Melite prayed in vain that there was no truth to the hearsay. Regardless, the siege and the scourge continued. The city leaders then treated with Minos who decreed his departure contingent upon the periodic surrender of fourteen noble scions—seven young men and seven maidens—to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, caged in a maze beneath Knossos. The people of Athens initially dismissed this offer as an outrageous demand, until their elected assembly conceded to it.

written while listening to:  Tyshawn Sorey Trio - Continuing, sides A & B (Pi Recordings, PI98, 2023, United States, lpx2, discogs.com)

January 9, 2025
The assembly of Athens debated at length the mechanism by which the fourteen would be selected. They agreed upon a random lottery, so as to let blame lie with the gods. The men also approved a motion that no family should surrender more than one child; the city's grief should be distributed. Other amendments proved unsuccessful. An attempt to exempt firstborn sons failed. Tricorythus called for households with only one child to be spared, but his motion did not garner much support, most citizens having large families. At home, he kept silent.

written while listening to:  Nicole Mitchell - Awakening (Delmark Records, DE 599, 2011, United States, cd, discogs.com)

January 10, 2025
To avoid any suspicion of manipulation, the lottery was conducted publicly. The names of the seven maidens were drawn first, each announced by one of the nine presidents of the assembly. "Periboea." Melite's stomach churned, for she knew most of the girls of noble birth. "Melanippe." She too was familiar to Melite. "Hesione." Melite's heart sank for Hesione always treated her as if she were a younger sister. So upset was Melite that she did not hear when her name was called next. Only the expression of horror on her mother's face revealed her fate.

written while listening to:  Isabelle Duthoit & Ocnos Arkestra - Chillar Todo el Día (Sentencia Records, SR-24 CD, 2024, Spain, cd, discogs.com)

January 11, 2025
Those chosen in the lottery were not allowed to return home lest they flee or mysteriously disappear, secreted in some country dwelling of remote kin. The youths were gathered in a square by soldiers, who separated them from their piteously weeping parents. Melite hugged her mother, who was then restrained by her father as she was pulled away. The voice of a priest rang out, silencing the murmur of the crowd. He praised the nobility of the fourteen; they accepted their lot so that their many loved ones in the great city of Athens would be spared from further depredation.

written while listening to:  Roscoe Mitchell & David Wessel - Contact, cd (RogueArt, ROG-0023, 2009, France, cd+dvd, discogs.com)

January 12, 2025
Melite could not disentangle the many emotions, which stormed inside her, but she doubted that nobility was to be found among them. Nevertheless, she forgave the priest his errant words just as she forgave the gods for devising a world where mad men reigned as kings and the innocent were sacrificed to appease their pride. Escorted to the port of Piraeus, Melite and her company immediately boarded a waiting galley. Though it was already noon, the ship then departed. So ended the siege of Athens, at least for those who escaped the heartache of losing a child.

written while listening to:  Matthew Shipp Chamber Ensemble - The Gospel According to Matthew & Michael (Relative Pitch Records, RPR1035, 2015, United States, cd, discogs.com)

January 13, 2025
The youths were packed in two locked compartments in the hold of the vessel. Because the low ceiling prevented them from standing upright, they settled into sitting positions. A few narrow gaps between planks in the deck overhead proved the only source of light during their journey. Four days their passage lasted. On the first two evenings, the ship moored at secluded beaches, where the oarsmen were fed then slept beneath stars. The captives briefly emerged onto the island shore. After a meal, they were returned to their cells for the night.

written while listening to:  Giovanni Di Domenico with Alexandra Grimal & Eric Thielemans - Echolalia (W.E.R.F., 230, 2024, Belgium, lp, discogs.com)

January 14, 2025
The ship spent the third night at sea, oarsmen dozing at their benches. After sharing scant rations, the seven young women sought what relief they might find in sleep. Although rocked by the gentle undulation of the waves, anxiety at their imminent meeting with the Minotaur prevented restful slumber. None spoke of the beast for they would meet it face to face soon enough. Hesione attempted to calm the other six, addressing them all as younger sisters, whom she loved. She could offer little hope but she promised to stay with them until the end.

written while listening to:  Luciana Bass - Desatornillándonos (Relative Pitch Records, RPRSS040, 2024, United States, cd, discogs.com)

January 15, 2025
For her part, Melite remained silent. What sentiments dwelt in her heart she did not have the inclination to share. When Andromache succumbed to bouts of weeping, Melite felt tears rim her eyes but she did not emit a sound. She was a gentle creature, doomed by chance and circumstance. Her sorrow would not be wasted on the caprice of an insentient universe. The sorrow of Melite was reserved for greater griefs. The other girls in the dark hold mistakenly interpreted her silence as a kind of mute paralysis induced by terror.

written while listening to:  Dan Weiss - Starebaby (Pi Recordings, PI74, 2018, United States, cd, discogs.com)

January 16, 2025
Preceded by the royal vessel, the remaining ships arrived just after dusk at a port on the northern coast of Crete. The capital of Knossos lay three miles south of the docks, so that night the sailors sought the hospitality of local taverns and inns. A less fortunate squad of soldiers stationed at the wharf formed the entourage of the king, who set out for the comfortable security of the palace. At the rear of this caravan the Athenian tribute walked, free of manacles and fetters, though all seemed too despondent to entertain thoughts of flight.

written while listening to:  Kawol Samarqandi - Noli Me Tangere (Ramble Records, RAM-175CD, 2024, Australia, digital files, discogs.com)

January 17, 2025
Melite had never traveled farther than the countryside surrounding Athens, though she was fond of hearing stories from visitors to the house who had seen foreign lands. Alas, clouds obscured the moon; her view of the monumental palace of King Minos, set atop the central hill of Knossos, was lost in darkness. As a group they ascended the many stairs. Turning aside just before the grand entrance, the youths were herded through a side gate reserved for servants and deliveries. From there they were deposited in a lower level that could not be mistaken for anything but a dungeon.

written while listening to:  Paul Bley & Gary Peacock - Mindset (Soul Note, 121213-2, 1997 (rec. 1992), Italy, cd, discogs.com)

January 18, 2025
Advisors to King Minos selected an auspicious date a week hence for the sacrifice. During this time, preparations were made for the simultaneous funeral of Androgeos, which had long been delayed by the siege. Far from sunlight, the Athenian tribute languished. Beginning at dawn on the day of the ceremony, a tremendous lamentation arose from the residents of the city, who feared the ire of their tyrant lord should he deem their wailing inadequate. The tumultuous mourning penetrated the stone palace even to those imprisoned in the lower levels.

written while listening to:  Chet Baker - Comin' On With The Chet Baker Quintet (Prestige, PRST 7478, 1967, United States, lp, discogs.com)

January 19, 2025
The monarch of the Minoan empire was by no means a religious man. He nakedly manipulated the local clergy to further his interests. Thus the ceremony in which the offering to the Minotaur occurred was officiated by both courtiers as well as high priests. In the great hall of the palace, Minos sat upon an elevated throne, flanked by his retinue. A throng of lords and lesser attendants from across Crete had arrived to pay their respects and display fealty to their king. The band played a specially composed dirge, full of both mourning and bombast.

written while listening to:  Hank Mobley - Quintet (Blue Note, BLP 1550, 1957, United States, lp, discogs.com)

January 20, 2025
The fourteen youths were collected from the dungeon and brought to a side chamber, where they were ordered to disrobe. Attendants bearing towels and buckets of water scrubbed them clean. Olive oil infused with the scent of lilies was applied to the women, while the men were treated to similar effect with a perfume of sage. White gowns of fine linen were provided to the women, and hemmed on the spot to ankle length. Melite was the shortest among the maidens; Europe the tallest. The seven men donned white chitons. Leather sandals were distributed to all.

written while listening to:  John Zorn - Filmworks 1986-1990 (Nonesuch, 7559-79270-2, 1992, United States, cd, discogs.com)

January 21, 2025
Before leaving the dressing room, the youths were plied with wine from an ornate kylix of silver, adorned with a stylized bull at the bottom of the cup. In two parallel columns, the sacrificial victims were marched into the great hall. Hippophorbas led the line of men, while Periboea was at the head of the women. Melite came fourth, behind Hesione. With crowds arranged on both sides, they proceeded toward the king. The Athenians were remarkably composed; even Andromache did not whimper, leading Melite to suspect that the wine had been drugged.

written while listening to:  Exploding Star Orchestra - Stars Have Shapes (Delmark Records, DE595, 2010, United States, cd, discogs.com)

January 22, 2025
A high priest orated in the Doric dialect of Crete, coarse to ears raised on the cosmopolitan speech of Athens. He beseeched the gods to intervene on behalf of the people of the island, for the Minotaur was a terrible menace that ravaged rural villages and farms. He intoned a prayer that the voracious appetite of the beast would be sated by this offering, purchased with a prince's life. From the balcony, a men's chorus echoed the priest's supplication in a solemn refrain and reminded those gathered of the origin of the man-bull.

written while listening to:  Jim O'Rourke - To Magnetize Money and Catch a Roving Eye, disc 1 (Sonoris, sns-16, 2019, France, cdx4, discogs.com)

January 23, 2025
From the litany, Melite and the other Athenians learned that the Minotaur was the son of the Cretan queen, Pasiphaë. She had been cursed by Poseidon to mate with a snow-white bull, a marvel that her husband had refused to offer in sacrifice to the sea god. So was the belief reinforced among the populace that blame for the existence of the Minotaur lay with the contemptible intrigue between a woman and a god, rather than with the tyrannical reign of their king. Notably, Queen Pasiphaë, if she yet lived, was not present at the ceremony.

written while listening to:  Sonny Rollins - The Complete Prestige Recordings, disc 3 (Prestige, 7PCD-4407-2, 1992 (rec. 1953 & 1954), United States, cdx7, discogs.com)

January 24, 2025
With a gesture from the high priest, the sergeant arranged a cordon of soldiers around the fourteen youths. Minos rose from the throne and led a procession from the hall into a side corridor. Courtiers holding lanterns aloft guided the descent first to the dungeon then to a deeper level, where the hewn walls of stone were covered in dark murals, depicting tortured scenes from the underworld. After a glance revealed the subject of the paintings, Melite refused to look again but kept her eyes focused on the back of Hesione's gown.

written while listening to:  The Red Garland Quintet with John Coltrane - Dig It! (Prestige, PRST 7229, 1962, United States, lp, discogs.com)

January 25, 2025
King Minos arrived in a stone chamber. Sconces flickered through wisps of smoke issuing from braziers of smoldering myrrh. He waited until those in the procession had filled the room. Behind him a massive stone block, carved with the head of a bull, rested before the wall. He spoke for a while, as a judge might lecture a murderer before delivering a sentence of death. Melite paid no attention to his words. Her attention was focused on the stone block, for it clearly barred the entrance to the labyrinth, wherein lurked the Minotaur.

written while listening to:  Sylvie Courvoisier - Chimaera, disc 1 (Intakt Records, INTAKT CD 410, 2023, Switzerland, cdx2, discogs.com)

January 26, 2025
The labyrinth was the work of an architect from Athens. A criminal convicted for the attempted murder of his nephew, he had escaped justice by fleeing to Crete. Gifted with an intellect far beyond the common man, Daedalus had devised a system of pulleys at the entrance to the maze so that two strong men could move the block, weighing several tons, along a greased slide. When the king stopped speaking, Melite observed the mechanism in action, though she had scant praise for the ingenuity of its inventor.

written while listening to:  Sorites Paradox - untitled (Magaibutsu Limited, MGC-38, 2011, Japan, cd, discogs.com)

January 27, 2025
The black maw of the underworld gaped open before them. Its dank breath belched forth, enveloping them in a funereal cloud of turned earth, which the incense did little to diffuse. We do not know, Gentle Reader, what thoughts passed through the minds of each of the youths as they imagined their future in that dark tunnel, for they all remained as blank and mute as chiseled statues. An attendant carried a single wax candle a short distance into the cave, placed it upon the stone floor then hurriedly exited.

written while listening to:  Lotte Anker, Jacob Anderskov & Kamil Piotrowicz - Antiworld 1 (Fundacja Słuchaj!, FSR 29/2024, 2024, Poland, cd, discogs.com)

January 28, 2025
At the king's command, the soldiers nudged Hippophorbas and Periboea forward. They led their respective columns past the block, through the portal and into the maze, stopping only when all fourteen had crossed the threshold. Keeping to their formation, the youths rotated until they faced those assembled for their sacrifice. The audience would bear witness across not just the island but the whole of the empire that Athens bowed to the might of King Minos. An incidental pawn in this grand game, Melite prayed that an account of her demise would never reach the ears of her mother.

written while listening to:  Han Bennink & Kazuo Imai - Across The Desert (Improvised Music From Japan, IMJ-514, 2003, Japan, cd, discogs.com)

January 29, 2025
Inside the mouth of the labyrinth, the youths peered through the square aperture. From where they stood, enveloped by darkness, the torches on the wall seemed to burn brighter than moments before. The faint fog of incense did not enter the maze but clung to the figures left behind in the stone chamber. The priest maintained an expression of solemnity. Others, who kept to the rear, fidgeted nervously, anxious for the door to be closed ere the beast appeared. There was no sign of satisfaction, much less joy, to be found in the dismal scene.

written while listening to:  Quatuor Hêlios - John Cage: Works for Percussion (WERGO, WER 6203-2, 1991, Germany, cd, discogs.com)

January 30, 2025
Melite's gaze settled on the face of King Minos. She observed the threads of gray in his hair and beard, the creases that mapped his face, the paternal mien, which he had adopted as enduring father to his nation. She detected grief for a lost son submerged beneath a mask of requisite arrogance, donned by one obligated to perform the theatre of his own revenge in order to maintain power. So contrary was the nature of Melite to the ways of this mortal world that, even in her moment of doom, she forgave the king his role in her death!

written while listening to:  Cocteau Twins - Garlands (4AD, CAD 211, 1982, United Kingdom, lp, discogs.com)

January 31, 2025
At a predetermined point, two soldiers pulled the rope, which gradually caused the stone block to slide across the opening of the labyrinth. The process took scarcely half a minute but for those who were being entombed within the maze, the narrowing of the rectangle of light was slowed in time. The reality of her transition between a life on the surface and a subterranean death struck Melite as elongated and tenuously distorted. When the stone slammed shut with a resounding thud, Melite supposed that she had died.

written while listening to:  Christian Fennesz, Philip Jeck & Charles Matthews - Amoroso (Touch, TS 01, 2008, United Kingdom, 7", discogs.com), Chris Watson - Oceanus Pacificus (Touch, TS 02, 2007, United Kingdom, 7", discogs.com), AER - Project (Touch, TS 03, 2008, United Kingdom, 7", discogs.com), Christian Fennesz - Transition (Touch, TS 04, 2008, United Kingdom, 7", discogs.com) & Oren Ambarchi - Destinationless Desire (Touch, TS 05, 2008, United Kingdom, 7", discogs.com)