Critical Introduction to Poetry of the Weave

by Zechariah David

For my original myth, I decided to write poetry set within a fictional universe of my own creation. I have conceptualized this universe for the past year, but never wrote anything substantial about it, so I saw this assignment as the perfect opportunity to write a myth relating to it. My universe is centered around the Weave, which essentially encompasses the mortal world and is composed of threads that allow mortals and immortals to interact with one another, creating magic. Because the entire Weave is bound together this way, they also have a shared religion (which is the “correct” religion, as their gods truly do exist). As such, my cosmic myth explains the creation of this entire Weave, rather than being localized to a specific people group. Within this shared religion, there are priests across the Weave who maintain temples to the gods and allow people to traverse the Weave. My poetry is written from their perspective, a choice I made with inspiration from Zoroastrianism and the Gathas, the foundational verses written by Zarathustra in reverence of Ahura Mazda, the supreme lord (paralleled by Mitt-Lish in my universe). Through poetry, I hoped to write with reverence and awe, which is such an important aspect of any religion.

Within my poetry, I separated them into three poems, which describe the creation of the gods, the creation of the Weave, and the creation of humans, respectively. They are all written in meter, as I wanted to maintain the feel of a poem without using a rhyme scheme, and I wanted to challenge myself by not writing in free verse. I am not very well-versed in poetry, so I rather arbitrarily decided on 7-syllable meter for the first poem and 5-syllable meter for the second and third poems. While it could be restrictive, it helped the poems feel more religious and presented an interesting challenge for me. I especially liked how short the 5-syllable lines were, especially when trying to fit in such a grand story.

The poems are centered around the question, “How did we get here?”, following the tradition of cosmic myths. In Leeming’s World of Myth, he describes cosmic myths as myths which “reflect a universal human concern with the outer boundaries of existence… [and] give us purpose and significance in the larger perspective of the universe itself” (27). As such, the poems establish the greatest powers in existence, as well as the Weave, our boundary, and our place within it. Like the humans in the Popol Vuh, my humans are created by the gods. The first one is accidental, but the second batch is created intentionally and has to be killed because they are not mortal. Finally, the third batch of humans is kept because they are mortal; the separation between the second and third groups of humans is similar to the concept of the apocalyptic flood myth, which also appears in the Popol Vuh, where the “other” is cleansed to allow for the creation/survival of only the worthy humans. In the same way, only the mortals are allowed to survive because they fit into the cosmic order the gods wish to maintain. While it is somewhat diminutive, it also gives us a concrete place in the universe, just as the humans in the Popol Vuh are given their place by the gods, as they are created with the explicit purpose of praising their creators.

The placement of humans in relation to the gods is fundamental to the Weave; I have always conceived of the underlying conflict in this universe as being between the divine and mortal, which these poems point to. This is, in essence, the same distinction as the one between the sacred and profane that Eliade outlines in his book, The Sacred & The Profane. The sacred is “a reality of a wholly different order from ‘natural’ realities,” and “depend[s] upon the different positions that man has conquered in the cosmos” (Eliade 10, 15). Humans can conquer only the Weave, where they are scattered, while the divine realm is sacred because it exists on a different plane of existence.

This is made clear when Mitt-Lish “descends” to the Weave, implying a total separation between the divine and the Weave, even though the divine realm is not fully defined. This act of descent also enables Mitt-Lish to create a hierophany through the tree planted from the heads of the god-men, a “break-through from plane to plane… the three cosmic levels–Earth, heaven, underworld–have been put in communication [through the] axis mundi, which at once connects and supports heaven and earth and whose base is fixed in the world below” (Eliade 36-37). Not only is it the center of the Weave through its position as the connection between sacred and profane, but it is also the center and connector of humanity as the source of their existence.

Through the divine, they are all bound.

Similarly, one of my biggest takeaways from this course was the way mythology can connect people. It has an incredible ability to connect people within a culture, but it also connects every culture through mythemes and the shared experience of storytelling. Storytelling has always been one of my passions, which is why I love movies and writing so much, and mythology is the ultimate form of storytelling. Understanding how different cultures have engaged with it and the importance of those stories has been an incredible experience that has completely changed the way I view every myth and story. While I thought I had some understanding of mythology, our readings on the four main theorists, as well as some other materials, have deepened my understanding greatly.

My myth is, within its universe, meant to be a binding force; while people are scattered all across the Weave, they are bound by this religion and their belief in its mythos. It is successful not just because it’s true, but because it’s universal. It creates a shared perspective across all people, just like Plato’s allegory of the cave, but unlike that allegory, they have no chains. Their religion is true, so their perspective is not flawed. In this way, my entire universe is also a manifestation of my desire to find absolute truth. Because their beliefs are universal and true, there is no room for question or debate over certain aspects of the universe. Strangely, even though there is so much variation within mythology, the study of mythology has given me a similar certainty about the truth of reality. In the shared myths and ideas across cultures, the truth about humanity and our fundamental questions is made clear. I’m excited to keep engaging with storytelling, mythology, history, and culture through the perspectives I’ve gained in this class.

Poems of the Weave

The Great Progeny

When everything was quiet,
The Duality labored.
It balanced sound and un-sound,
A churning dearth; meaningless.

But Duality gained thought,
A cloud of divinity:
Where Entropy and Order,
The greatest predecessors,
Beget a great new order.

They felt affection so dear,
Even their thoughts were mingled,
Birthing The Great Progeny,
An auspicious seventeen.
Now revered forevermore.

The Great Progeny hungered,
Dreaming of new creations.
Their dreams were brighter than bright,
Overwhelming their parents
And bringing their destruction;
The progeny became lone.

But one more duality,
The products of the first death,
Was born: they were Death and Love,
Twin foundations of the world.

Then they, vengeful, declared war
On the noble creators,
Whose might would not be conquered.

Building the Weave

When Death reaped its first,
It hungered for more.
But the Progeny,
Searching their parents,
Found threads of being,
Which could be woven
Into the vast Weave,
Our cosmic dwelling.

Here, they escaped Death,
And Love was silent.
The Weave’s heart was one
With their parents’ heart:
Their conjoined remnant.

With their grand visions,
They began to build.
The Far Realms were shaped,
The stars were brightened,
And the planets swirled.

At the Weave’s axes,
Keepers of order
Emerged from the void.
They were the triune,
Our eternal guides. 

The First Humans

The first Progeny
Held the most power.
Their dreams were grander,
Their thoughts more potent.
From their resting minds,
Iraks was molded.

His power was great;
He breathed the divine,
He knew creation.
But Death could take him,
And gladly did so.

When the Progeny,
Disturbed in their work,
Found his unwound flesh,
Their minds churned anew.

They saw what they missed:
Their own Progeny.
So they created,
Pinching from the stars
And molding from stone.
Iraks’ golden blood
Burned within their veins,
Sparking their heartbeats.

But these were god-men.
They carried the spark,
Immortality,
That Iraks did not.

So The Hidden One,
The high creator,
Mitt-Lish, descended.
He tore off their heads,
And planted a tree.

Its flowers bloomed fast,
Roots piercing the Weave.
It touches above,
It touches below.

From its flowers fell
The heads of mankind,
Scattering across
The vast cosmic winds,
To every corner.

And so, here we are.
Our flesh is rotten,
Fallen divine fruit;
And Death may take us,
But we are warded
By holy Mitt-Lish;
He will see our fate,
And govern its end.

Works Cited

Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane: The Nature of Religion. Translated by Willard R.

Trask, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1957, pp. 10, 15, 36-37.

Bazzett, Michael. The Popol Vuh. Milkweed Editions, 2018. ProQuest E-Book Central, ebookcentral-proquest-com.cwi.idm.oclc.org/lib/cwidaho/detail.action?docID=7280465.

Leeming, David Adams. The World of Myth: An Anthology. Oxford University Press, 27 Feb. 1992. ProQuest E-Book Central, ebookcentral-proquest-com.cwi.idm.oclc.org/lib/cwidaho/reader.action?docID=1100071&ppg=41, pp. 27.

Zechariah David is currently a high schooler and aspiring writer from Meridian, Idaho. Having always been inspired by storytelling, he is passionate about movies and writing, and hopes to write a book before graduating high school (one of his biggest inspirations is S.E. Hinton, who began writing as a teenager). He also plays the piano and violin and is interested in philosophy, religion, politics, and history. Through teaching, politics, or journalism, he hopes to make a positive impact on the world and is constantly searching for answers to the biggest questions and issues in existence. When he’s not doing that, he’s usually playing Destiny 2.