Re-evaluating the Muses

I sat down with the poet the other day and was working on updating my matrix of the muses. He was forthcoming, but suggested that instead of worrying so much about the details of the muses, just up to the point they may think I'm revealing their identities, I may wish to focus on their emotional and spiritual attributes.

Interesting notion, sez I.

So I made a list of the muses that seem to be the most interesting, to me and his readers, and set to analyzing his poetry for cues and clues. Here's my rundown. I limited myself to five adjectives, and they had to be non-physically descriptive. Some received negative descriptors, but remember this is from the poet's writings, and even he admits that what he writes is reactive not only to the actions and words of the people, but also to his own prejudices. I culled the really, really bad words.

ALABASTER: Innocent, standoffish, sweet, mercurial, confused.
PSYCHE: Brilliant, passionate, fierce, clever, betrayed.
VALKYRIE: Playful, responsible, defensive, angry, vengeful.
PANTHER: Confused, flirtatious, mercurial, capricious, sad.
GOLDENHEART: Gentle, dark, wistful, hopeful, sweet.
THE TRUTH: Bright, clever, curious, tempting, flighty.
BRIGIT: Dominant, conflicted, disloyal, talented, lost.
THE MAD GYPSY: Kind, passionate, questing, reserved, complicated.
LEOPARD: Needy, untamed, passive, meandering, caring.
JAZ: Passionate, independent, intense, guarded, funny.

There are other muses to work up, but I thought I'd work from this pose on a handful of the key ones, based purely on his public (and private) writings. what do you think? There were a few descriptors I had to jettison (without telling you whom they were applied to): Cruel, amoral, cowardly, promiscuous, parasitic, vicious, bitter, self-destructive, incompetent, slanderous, unforgiving, unrepentant, dishonest, pathetic, sociopathic and unworthy. I won't say who those were to (but they applied to only 5 of the 10....ouch to be them when his memoirs surface).

Hey, Jaz...liked the pajama party. I wish he'd had a camera with him.