Tropomorphoses: Myths from the Evening of Humanity - Paperback

by Yulalona Lopez (Author)

The forms presented here are an extension to the Metamorphoses, the Latin masterpiece by Publius Ovidius Naso, written in the year 8 A.D., that recounts a series of transformations of humans into animal, plant, and mineral forms. Ovid's stories range from remote mythic times to the founding of Rome. Poets have long recounted the stories of human beings being changed into other beings. These myths are repeated over and over in many cultures and many times. These myths show us how literally pigheaded humans can be and what just punishments or rewards are meted out; coincidentally, the myths may have helped us to understand other beings by becoming them. For every myth told, however, there are many not told, and these shadow myths track our cultures, appearing only in fragments and allusions. One important difference between these and Ovidian stories is that these myths describe the conversion of mineral, plant and animal forms into human beings; and this conversion results in different kinds of challenges, that result from openings and expansions instead of closings and contractions. As Heroditus questioned of the Olympians, how can we know if they are eternal or powerful or whether this is their final form? Perhaps we cannot know. Instead, the mystery of living beings presents a Pandora's box of ideas and possibilities of other ways of living. The day of humanity has ended, and the evening begins.

Author Biography

Yulalona Leelannee Lopez studied astronomy at Harvard University and is associated with the Tohono O'odham in Arizona. She is a founding member of the Palouse Poets Collective and a contributor to Nieman Ryan Community Designs. Although she has written articles and short stories, she works only on book-length projects, now. She is the author of several books, including Tropomorphoses, Night Wolves, and Coyote Remasked. To earn a living for the past ten years, her vocation has been investing in commodities; she lives in Grants Pass, Oregon, where she follows coyotes on their errands in and out of town. Her avocation is saving places and cultures, working through The Nature Conservancy, Cultural Survival, and other groups. She writes as a passion, to persuade others to her views. She explains: "Mostly, when I read other poets, I think that they didn't study enough astronomy, didn't get their knees scratched trying to follow earthworms, haven't caught cold watching it snow on their hands, haven't shaped their body to the bole of a tree or crawled along a deer path through thickets-bend or become still or small. I want to speak to these nonhuman experiences."