LABYRINTHINE

 

Labyrinthine.

This is one of my favorite words.

I love things that are labyrinthine:
architecture, systems, minds,
works of art and literature,
cities, conversations, games.

And of course, labyrinths.

And the word itself.
The word labyrinthine is
itself labyrinthine; to pronounce
it is a joy like a mouthful of dark
chocolate; it feels like I'm
pronouncing the secret
name of the goddess
of my heart.

When I thought about how
I wanted to do this lexicon project,
I knew right away that it had to
be a labyrinth of sorts.

The most famous labyrinth in
history is probably the Cretan
Labyrinth from Greek mythology,
built by Daedalus, which served
as the home and prison of
the dreaded Minotaur.

Which reminds me... be warned that
this lexical labyrinth of mine, like the
Cretan Labyrinth before it, has
a ferocious monster living
in it somewhere.
If you come across him,
I recommend running away.
Sorry for the inconvenience,
but it just didn't seem like it
would be a proper labyrinth
without a monster.

Actually, this labyrinth is remarkably
well-populated. In addition to the
monster, there are a few
well-known movie characters
lurking around in here somewhere...
and a couple of species of birds...
and a Once-ler with an important
message... and a certain eccentric
Mullah from Sufi folklore...
and I've heard rumors of
a jackalope... and watch
out for the ortgeists!

Oh, and there's a monkey,
of course. There always
has to be a monkey.