You Can Say It Means Whatever You Want, But You Still Can’t Work It Out

In Herbert’s version,
Composed in Polish,
The authentic tale

Of the Minotaur
Was in Linear A.
Short story shorter,

The Minotaur had
Hydrocephaly.
Daedalus couldn’t

Make him learn despite
A labyrinthine
Education, so

Theseus was brought
There by King Daddy
To assassinate

The Minotaur, which
He did. No problem.
It’s a favorite

Thing to do with myths
And legends—flip them.
But the Minotaur

Is still in the maze
Of Linear A,
Biding monstrous time,

And we know this as
The monster always
Waits for meaning, no

Matter how many
Ways you make it mean.
The monster, we mean.