The Muses
written by: Paul Hostovsky
There are two:
there is yours,
the noun, the nine
daughters of Zeus
and Mnemosyne,
your source of inspiration,
from the Greek MOUSA,
a common noun
and a type of goddess.
It also gives us
“museum.”
And then there is
the verb, MUSER,
from Anglo-French,
meaning “to be idle”
and “to gape.” As in:
Mouth hanging open,
absorbed in thought.
That muse is my muse
because I love idleness
and daydreaming
and mouthing the words
to the poem when
I’m making it. Ultimately
from the Latin MUSUS,
meaning “mouth
of an animal,”
it also gives us
“muzzle.”
So you see, your muse
and my muse have
no etymological link–
they’re from two distinct
languages. Which explains
why my poems are so
different from yours
and why your poems don’t
speak to me at all.
