The Phoenix Today
     Reappearing in art and literature through the centuries, the phoenix reveals itself once again in the modern world.
     The immortal bird appears unexpectedly in our daily lives. The figure of the hood of a Pontiac Firebird is an eagle-like phoenix with outspread wings. The bird is remembered in place names from the Phoenix Islands in the Pacific Ocean to Phoenixville, Connecticut, and is a constellation in the southern skies. Hundreds of titles, such as Japan: The Phoenix of Asia, A Phoenix Too Frequent, and Flight of the Phoenix figuratively refer to the rebirth of someone or something. Behind a sports page headline – “Phoenix Suns Rise from the Ashes of NBA Despair” – is the myth nearly as old as civilization itself. The Asian phoenix is a standard figure in the decorative arts and in product packaging. And not surprisingly, the Western phoenix appears more than rarely in modern children’s stories and adult fantasy novels.
     The phoenix remains true to its own myth.



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