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Tyranmatón

by Richard Paul Haight

108 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0979; ISBN 1-55395-265-0; US$15.00, C$20.20, EUR13.20, £9.10

Inspired by characters and events in the Book of Esther in the bible, Tyranmatón reveals Queen Vashti's fate in excile, including her witnessing of the incomprehensible massacre of her people by themselves, as carried out by Tyranmatón's soldiers. Thematically Tyranmatón is about tyranny, beauty, love, the power to tame white tigers, justice, and related small matters all considered within a larger concern for pathological vertical-mindedness and its long history of perversion of character, misogony, and sectarian slaughter.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book Tyranmatón is the king of the vast ancient Persian Empire. He aspires to be a god. In the Book of Esther in the bible he is named Ahasué, which may have been the best a Hebrew tongue could do with Xerxes. His queen, the beautiful Vashti, commits a crime against his manhood. The biblical tale focuses on Esther (Aestherah), but a modern reader may well find Vashti and her defiance of the king to be more compelling. Tyranmatón, like the Book of Esther, begins with Vashti's crime and with a parady of Persian bureaucracy as its operatives meet with Tyranmatón to decide Vashti's punishment. She is sent into excile in a small, upper apartment in a far corner of the massive royal palace at Persepolis. Much of her tale is told through entries in her "exilic diary." Uniquely,the poems that comprise Tyranmatón imply but do not spell out, a narrative. In "Tyranmatón Hears the Prayers of his people," we find the king carrying out his official duties, and in "Tyranmatón Seeks Legal Counsel Regarding Vashti's Crime" we find him in agony of insulted personhood and earnest pursuit of legal niceties. His character and mind are revealed in "Tyranmatón and the Tests of Hume" and in "Tyranmatón Appoints a Minister of Culture." With regard to treatment of his new queen, he receives "Advice Regarding Deflowering." Meanwhile, the attitudes toward him of his subjects/victims is revealed in "The Philisopher Drinks Tea at the Coffeehouse," "The High Priest and Poet Laureate Meet for Tea," and "Tyranmatón Examines the Mood of his People." The poet Rumi appears briefly as an aide to justice. In her exilic diary, Vashti reveals much about Tyranmatón's character, but much more about her own. She questions the value of beauty, reviews her love life, and considers the power of man in relation to the power of white tigers. From her window high above one of the vast courtyards of the palace she witnesses a massacre of her people seemingly by themselves, as carried out by Tyranmatón's soldiers, and she is forever changed by the experience. In her last days, she bravely faces up to the way she must die and triumps, at least spiritually. But Tyranmatón lives on, for he is the universal man empowered by religion and violence. Only in a future well beyond even our time, does he finally fade from history, as revealed in "Tyranmatón" and the Last Days of Tyranmatón" - but whether the new age of Jumellism will be an advance, perhaps even a salvation for human kind is necessarily a great unkown. The poems that tell the tale are in a variety of styles, tones, and form. They are so accessible that Tyranmatón qualifies as a "good read." Nevertheless, the poems also are rich enough in subtext, psychological and social insight, powerful imagery, and subtle meanings that even a postmodern eye might appreciate them.

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About the Author Richard Paul Haight received a Ph.D. in English literature from The Ohio State University. He has taught at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and briefly at the University of Colorodo in Boulder. He was the humanities advisor to large-scale grand projects sponsored by The Dallas Theater Center and the National Farmers Union and was assistant director of The Colorado Humanities Program, a state=based re-granting agency of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Haight has published poetry, social commentary essays, and book and film reviews. At the time of publication he lives and writes in Denver.

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Sample Excerpts

from "TYRANMATON HEARS THE PRAYERS OF HIS PEOPLE"

Beloved Father, my daughter, regrettably, is a slut.
My wife refuses to be satisfied in kitchen and bed.
Please allow them to perish and grant me a fresh start.

Celestial Lord, All- Loving Patriarch, my son
has ADHD and an unruly mouth. He tried to punt
his teacher into a filing cabinet. May we stone him?

from "TYRANMATON AND THE TESTS OF HUME"

Is even a vaporous saint like you, Solomon,
capable of loving my Self as ardently
as your own? Will you be my tongue in my mouth
caressing these teeth, chewing this breath,
pressing this saliva upon concubine or queen?

from "WHY THE PHILOSOPHER MAY TAKE HIS OWN LIFE IF HE SO DESIRES"

He is to mind as AIDS is to body
[He] therefore proposes that dirty toenails
and greasy crotches be appointed to legislate
      the manners of our marital beds.

The justice of Tyranmaton is civilization itself.
The unnatural man will have his unnatural end.

from "VASHTI'S EXILIC DIARY, v.2"

What belief might save Vashti?
What belief could Vashti believe
whether or not it might save her?

All morning a pigeon dying at my window
stared at dung, waiting for it to worm,
imagining a fall into a garden of worms.

from "VASHTI'S EXILIC DIARY, x.10"

But when at last I lay upon my bed
of gold and silver, I found myself like a little bird
splashing joyously in a spray of sunshine;

felt myself resting in peace
upon a shady rock beside an everflowing stream
where washerwomen sang of the muscular thighs

of clumsy lovers and of the gold
that gives sexual pleasure; saw another dawn
touching mountains and courtyards

with new light and everflowing shadows -
and knew I was sleeping, knew I was asleep
and breathing freely in gratitude

for sweet sleep, gratitude for deep, sweet breathing,
for sweet singing of washerwomen and touch
of any true man, for scratching of mind

and embrace
of this life never to be borne again . . .
and willing thus to sleep on forever.

from "TYRANMATON"

Tyranmaton, shabby with age and shame,
sat on the steps of the ministry of justice.
The last two pigeons
pecked at weeds growing through the cracks
on the plaza.
The advancing waters
had overflowed the emergency bunds,
and coffins bobbed like overturned lifeboats
just below the cathedral.
An orphan child approached
and sat beside the dispirited man.

"Is it true that you have three heads?"
      "Yes," Tyranmaton admitted.
"But I see only one."
      "That also is true."
"Do you love me?"
      "You must love me."
"If I love you, will you love me?"
      "You must love me sincerely."

"If I love you sincerely, will you love me?"
      "You must prove to me that you love me."
"How shall I prove my love to you?"
      "Do as I say."
"And then you will prove that you love me?"
      "That will be self-evident."
"I am frightened."
      "That is because you have not loved me
      sincerely and exactly."
"Our island will soon drown in the flood."
      "That is proof that I have not been loved
      sincerely and exactly."
"Forgive me, sir, but I see no benefit
from loving you."
      "It was sufficient to promise only
      that which cannot be verified."
"Then your promises were deceitful."
      "You can't prove that."

A helicopter appeared in the azure sky
and circled slowly down
toward the plaza.
"I have been sent to tell you,"
said the boy, "that there is no room
for you."
      "All things are as I will them."

The pigeons scattered
to the cathedral bell tower.
The helicopter landed in chuff and dust.
A small group of people got into it.
It flew away. Tyranmaton believed
he heard the tolling of bells.
Perhaps a helicopter had fallen
into the sea as a lesson in mercy.

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Catalogue Information

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