The Poison Pie Publishing House presents:

November 1, 2025
The soldiers in the garrison assigned to the citadel in Damascus prepared a small room within the fortress for Melite. They could not communicate with her for she did not speak Aramaic and not a man among them knew a word of Greek. She refused to leave the courtyard holding the behemoth. The soldiers assumed that she kept close to the beast for protection from unkind advances. In truth, the thought of leaving Theopompos never crossed her mind. She did well to remain with him for already her pale, foreign skin enflamed the desires of the surrounding young men.

written while listening to:  Maria Faust Sacrum Facere - Marches Rewound and Rewritten (Stunt Records, STULP 25071, 2025, Denmark, lp, discogs.com)

November 2, 2025
When the behemoth was ready to take a weight off his feet, he brushed aside the gate as if passing through a curtain of reeds. The snap of wooden boards drew the attention of a guard on the overlooking parapet. His shouts summoned others. Their agitation was inexplicable to Melite for, after descending the ramp, Theopompos floated idly in the channel. He was not going anywhere. When Melite saw a soldier fit an arrow to his bow, she jumped into the water. Climbing upon his back, she stood and spread her arms wide in a desperate attempt to shield her friend from any incoming missile.

written while listening to:  Carnalisme - De Profondis (Nunc., Nunc.028, 2022, France, cd, discogs.com)

November 3, 2025
Unfamiliar with the habits of the behemoth and unable to communicate with its keeper, Hazael did not have the gate replaced. He feared his new prize would languish if daily access to water was essential to its health. He did, however, order the pair of swimmers who had lured the beast to the citadel moved into the fortress and put on alert, should their guest attempt to flee. The king made much of the beast. Any visitor to his court deemed to possess sufficient prestige joined him from a high vantage over the channel for a viewing.

written while listening to:  David Brown, Tony Buck & Magda Mayas - Blue Plum Bloom (Shame File Music, sham129, 2024, Australia, lp, discogs.com)

November 4, 2025
Not content to limit the behemoth to a showpiece, the king ordered it trained for military incursions. "The beast has a natural affinity for water," he explained to his generals. He shared his vision of the creature leading a nighttime raid down a river. Gliding silently past sentries, it came ashore in the midst of an encampment, taking the enemy unaware. Spreading terror in a devastating rampage, it spared none the thrust of its mighty tusks. "With an amphibious unit built around it, I shall lay waste to Ammon, Israel, Judah, Moab, Edom and lands beyond."

written while listening to:  Derek Bailey & Simon H. Fell - At Sound 323, sides A & B (Confront, CORE 03LP, 2023 (rec. 2001), United Kingdom, lpx2, discogs.com)

November 5, 2025
The task of training the behemoth for war fell to a young general named Ben-Yassib, for the older military men foresaw calamity. Organizing men into a coherent fighting force was difficult by itself, never mind a beast. They concealed their pessimism and wished their junior colleague well. Ben-Yassib appointed his gray-haired "uncle" Niqmad as lieutenant and counselor. Also placed in lesser positions of command were the two swimmers, Rabbas and Obodas. Eager to make his mark with the king, the general's first order was the creation of matching shirts embroidered with the open-mouthed bust of the beast.

written while listening to:  Keiji Haino & Guro Moe - Drums & Octobass, disc 2 (Conrad Sound, CnRd334CD, 2023, Norway, cdx2, discogs.com)

November 6, 2025
The role of the behemoth keeper was discussed at length. The general called it a stain upon the honor of the unit to count a woman among their ranks. Having heard the rumors of a divine purpose in the beast and its rider, the suspicious swimmers remained ambivalent. Besides, they saw a ferocious sensuality when, garbed in her wet chiton, she sat astride the beast. Uncle Niqmad advised Ben-Yassib to play it by ear. "We need her to control the monster, at least until it is trained. Once we have it tamed, we can dispense with her at our leisure."

written while listening to:  Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Douglas Ewart, Joëlle Léandre, Bernard Santacruz & Michael Zerang - Sonic Communion (The Bridge Sessions, TBS01, 2015, France, cd, discogs.com)

November 7, 2025
As predicted, Melite played an essential role in encouraging Theopompos to swim up the channel to a field cleared for the purposes of training. Even then Rabbas and Obodas liberally cast cucumbers when the behemoth began to slow. Eventually they made it to a spot in the river beside which a faux camp had been erected. All attempts to lure the beast from the river proved unsuccessful. Submerged to its neck, two eyes peered skeptically at the men heckling it from the bank. From her perch, Auntie Ibis cooed calming words.

written while listening to:  Susan Alcorn & Eugene Chadbourne - An Afternoon in Austin (Boxholder Records, BXH032, 2002, United States, cd, discogs.com)

November 8, 2025
The men grew frustrated at the refusal of the behemoth to leave the water. The general declared that the woman must be urging it to disobey a direct order but the language barrier left the purpose of her words uncertain. "We must find our own means of motivating the beast. Something more effective than cucumbers!" A soldier suggested that an arrow in the flank of the beast might drive it in a rage toward the archer. Neither Ben-Yassib nor his uncle judged it wise to prick the king's pet before all other avenues of persuasion were exhausted.

written while listening to:  Ivo Perelman & Tyshawn Sorey - Parallel Aesthetics, disc 2 (Fundacja Słuchaj!, FSR 01|2025, 2025, Poland, cdx2, discogs.com)

November 9, 2025
Pitch-soaked rags were wrapped about the ends of two sticks and set alight. Rabbas and Obodas entered the river, each holding a torch aloft. Separating, they slowly made a wide berth around the behemoth until they were positioned behind it. Treading water, they waved their flames and shouted at the beast to get moving. In response, Theopompos submerged entirely. The ibis too descended until the water reached her armpits and her buoyancy lifted her from the back of her mount. "I'm so sorry," she said to the torchbearers in a tongue they did not understand.

written while listening to:  Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Strings - Renegades (Delmark Records, DE 587, 2009, United States, cd, discogs.com)

November 10, 2025
By the end of his first day of training, Theopompos had conquered the will of the army of King Hazael, for neither officer nor soldier proved able to dislodge him from the river. Despite the presence of an annoying band of cantankerous men upon the shore, the behemoth found the excursion a pleasant way to pass a cool autumn day in the company of his dear Auntie Ibis. Consequently, after a night spent back in the safety of his pen at the citadel, the light of dawn found him amenable to doing the whole routine again.

written while listening to:  George - Shorts (Out of Your Head Records, OOYH 018.1, 2023, United States, digital files, discogs.com)

November 11, 2025
Said Uncle Niqmad to the general, "The keeper is both the cause of our problem and its solution." He explained thus, "She is a woman of peaceful demeanor. Clearly, the beast has been confined with her for so long that it has been lulled into tranquility by her constant presence." His observation was accurate, for as we mentioned at the start of our tale, raised in a loving and well-to-do home, Melite had not developed the ordinary mechanisms for coping with hardship. She had naturally passed on these same traits to her protégé.

written while listening to:  Roscoe Mitchell & The Note Factory - Far Side (ECM Records, ECM 2087, 2010, Germany, cd, discogs.com)