Wow, this thing is a MONSTER, but I'm really, REALLY pleased with it. I
still feel like it needs polishing, but I managed to get my partner, who
isn't a big poetry person, to call it "powerful," so I'm PSYCHED.
Written based on my 100 Poem Project theme, "hermaphrodeities." You
should totally go check out the book by the same name, written by Raven
Kaldera.
Written (much faster than I could have anticipated) for
's
Transgressions: Vices and Virtues Contest.
The prompt: "In keeping with the theme of "transgressions", your topic
this year (if you hadn't guessed) is virtues and vices. Is there really a
difference between them? Can one person's virtue be another's vice?
What makes something fall in one category and not the other?" I promise
this is within the 60 line limit! I promise!
SO MANY REFERENCES.
Parts of this are meditations on the definitions of "virtue" and "vice"
as listed on the contest article, particularly:
vice
1
a : moral depravity or corruption : wickedness
b : a moral fault or failing
c : a habitual and usually trivial defect or shortcoming : foible
4
a often capitalized : a character representing one of the vices in an English morality play
b : buffoon, jester
virtue
6
: a capacity to act : potency
7
: chastity especially in a woman
Other
references (because I think they're actually important for
understanding the way I played with virtue/vice in this piece, and keep
in mind that I DO NOT DO THIS OFTEN) include, in order:
- The
Virgin Mary. One of my middle names is Mary, and my mother chose it
because she had great difficulty conceiving, and prayed to the Virgin on
the Feast of the Immaculate Conception for a child. Nine months later:
TA-DA! Me.
- Spirit
Animal: I am not talking about Native North Americans in this case, but
indigenous Central Americans. Many Mayan people (NOT EXTINCT, they
still live in Mexico) draw a line in the dirt when a child is born and
lay the placenta on it. The first animal to cross is the child's spirit
animal, and the child's well-being will be forever tied to that
creature.
- Yarrow: this is a plant often brewed into tea to help improve clairvoyance and is associated with divination.
- Robert Frost's birches: "Birches" is one of my FAVORITE FAVORITE Frost poems (read here: [link]).
One of the interpretations of it is that the birches in the poem are
actually phallic symbols. If you want to know more about that, I'm sure
you can find that analysis online somewhere.
- Fourble:
IS A REAL WORD. I was so excited. It's a piece of mining equipment,
also spelled "forble," but I liked this spelling better :)
- Heaven
help you if you don't know where "fe fi fo fum" comes from. Or the Big
Bad Wolf. Go look up Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood.
- Victoria
bones: Queen Victoria, thanks to constantly wearing a corset, had a
waist of only 16" in circumference. Women during this period often used
fans to help them breathe.
- (Light
brown hairs: technically a reference to my favorite poem OF ALL TIME,
T. S. Elliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.")
- FINALLY: Legion comes from the Bible. "Legion" is what a man possessed by multiple demons calls himself. Mark 5:9:[link]
OKAY.
I think that covers them all. No wait, one more: the concept of people
who are "two spirit" comes from the Navajo. They believe that there are
people born with multiple spirits in their bodies, who are both man and
woman, and because of this are blessed with greater spiritual power. If
there is any gender identity I think fits me most, it is two spirit.
I hope you all enjoy! Sorry for the lengthy explanation >_<
Questions for critique:
1. What do you think of the flow? I feel like some of the imagery might not have a strong enough tie to the rest of the piece.
2.
What do you think of the sections? I felt like they needed to be
separated out somehow, but I feel like this could still be played with
more. Thoughts?
3. I remain skeptical of the opening couplet. Comments appreciated.
4. HELP ME WITH THE TITLE! PLEASE!
All comments welcome! Thanks for reading!
"Poetry is Simply a Way to Stretch Myself Skyward"
In the end we’re all myths, hermaphroditic deities.
Our names are the most real things about us.
i. My
mother named me for the Virgin
and I
carry her legacy in my blood—
she is
my spirit animal; the creature
who
crawled first across the placenta line
outside
my home. In truth, I imagine all
are
wolves or coyotes drawn by the smell
of
fresh blood.
ii.
There is no purity in childhood:
we are
simply jesters with blistered feet
and
the purple skins of blueberries under our fingernails.
We
feel no remorse.
Our
bodies have not yet been burdened
with the
weight of other hearts.
iii.
potency
portency portents ports
Before
I make my tea I’ll watch my
little
yarrow plants unfold themselves
fleshlike
and phallic, petite bent men
hoping
for heaven—a row of Frost’s
birch
trees. Hardly potent in the dead of winter,
but
witchly I will drink their secrets down.
iv.
foible fourble
feeble fable
fe fi fo fum
If
power is measured by the air
with which
we fill our lungs,
then
call me Big Bad and scratch me
behind
my furred triangle ears—these large teeth
were
not made to bite
[you]—
if
power is measured by lung capacity
then
this great big ribcage of mine
cannot
be contained by white Victoria bones;
I will
need no laced fan to breathe,
my virtue
is not the geometric shapes
of
clothed bodies. I go about with
uncovered
ankles, dusty and decorated
with
light brown hairs.
I am a breathtaking Navajo tapestry.
Stick figures I may be, but I,
Legion, am many, and we wear the sun
as our crown.
Hark all ye who lay claim to only half yourselves—
on your wedding days, you shall speak
with breathtaken voices.
Mine will always rise in song.
