Comet

“For the end of the world was long ago,
And all we dwell to-day
As children of some second birth,
Like a strange people left on earth
After a judgment day.”
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G.K. Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse
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This is a personal piece that represents a comet in human form, clad in meteoritic iron, and with long flowing hair (from the ancient Greek “komētēs”, meaning long-haired [star]. By striking the Earth, she precipitated a nuclear winter, and the temporary reign of scavengers.
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Comets are both destroyers and creators: feminized as long-haired, vengeful maiden riding the “bull” of the Taurus constellation, they have long been reviled as harbingers of death and calamity; and yet modern science theorizes that comets may have fertilized the Earth with the essential building blocks of life.
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Hyenas share in this dual, hermaphrodite nature. Repulsive and merciless, they remind us of the inevitability of death; and still, they play a fundamental part in keeping their ecosystem healthy and clean. And under their brutish appearance, hyenas function in complex matriarchies where females, with their dominant stature and enlarged genitals, can hardly be distinguished from males.