“Different, But Not Individually Evil”

‘Creatures, always creatures, never monsters.’ I have made this statement countless times over the years. The reason for my insistence on what my creations should be called is that people often identify them as monsters, whereas for me the world ‘monster’ conjures up images of Frankenstein’s creation, Dracula, a ghastly alien or perhaps something equally horrifying which might suggest a malevolent entity. This is not how I see most of my creations. None of them are really evil; perhaps ‘odd’ or grotesque, which makes them different, but not individually evil unless controlled by other forces. None of them destroy for the sake of destroying.

Ray Harryhausen
quoted in “Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life”

I’ve been rehearsing a song
I wrote about a creature
with that distinctive feature—
it’s grotesque, doesn’t belong,

but when its actions are wrong
it’s not a corrupt preacher
just a misguided teacher
whose kids have all run along

leaving it alone to teach
lessons no one wants to learn
and soon everyone forgets

learning’s even within reach,
so it wrecks things. I discern
the song might require puppets.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .



I don’t have a theme this week,
I’m just making it up day by day.
But I may have a new puppet post
for Friday.



*



“A Concept That I Felt Was Right”


“Yet Baghdad Is”



Twenty-Four Hundred Man-Years For What?