Yellow Cabs, Steam Venting, Vermillion Monsters

Mid-afternoon, Midtown Manhattan, East 52nd Street… 

Suddenly, chickens above my head. 

Other creatures, too…

…monstrous things,…

…ship-swallowers,…

…serpents, and from the corner of my eye, I saw the Medusa! (Did you SEE what she was WEARING??)

 

These are the Greek Monsters, on display at the Onassis Foundation: 

The Greeks knew that they must face their monsters, look them in the eye (even with a mirrored shield, as Perseus does with Medusa), and destroy them. Because they were, in a way, externalized concepts of what lay within every human being, these ‘monsters’ must be first acknowledged, then vanquished.

The Greek Monsters may be seen in the atrium of the Olympic Tower, 645 Fifth Avenue, at East 52nd Street.