Poetry: the Spoken Word

Poetry is an artform ment to be spoken; ment to be heard with the ear not scanned with the eyes. Hearing the words roll off the lips of the poet gives the poetry a new dimension. There is a texture in the emphasis, in the rhythm, in the pregnant pause that can not be duplicated on paper.

A fellow poet from Editred recorded some of her poetry on a my music page. A myspace service originally intended for indie musicians, my music has been co-opted  by poets seeking an outlet for their spoken word. It’s a fascinating trend that I hope will gain ground, perhaps even inspire a dedicated service (please let me know if there is already one I don’t know about).

Here’s just a sample of some of the poets I encountered:

• poetress 411
• poetry2hear
• weneedpoetry
• listenpoetry

The Erotic Vs. The Pornographic

In her essay “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power”, Audre Lorde notes that although the erotic is a natural source of power for women “[w]e have been taught to suspect this resource, vilified, abused, and devalued within western society.”

I suppose that is why I had such a sense of apprehension when it was time for me to write my first sex scene. It was not gratuitous sex, thrown in to catch the reader’s attention. It was the natural outgrowth of the plot. At first I considered skipping it all together, shame-facedly moving on to the next scene with little more than a metaphorical reference a la early Hollywood. But I couldn’t do it. I had to be true to my narrative craft and acknowledge that this scene was crucial to the characterization of one of the main characters. So, I sat down and began to write.

Audre Lorde writes:

[W]e have often turned away from the exploration and consideration of the erotic as a source of power and information, confusing it with its opposite, the pornographic. But pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true feeling. Pornography emphasizes sensation without feeling.

After I posted my sex scene at Editred for my peers to critique (I have a couple faithful readers who have been work-shopping this first novel with me), I realized there was no mention of breasts or throbbing members. Well what kind of sex scene is that, I thought. There was, of course, caressing, undressing, and the ultimate climax, but I suddenly began to feel like I had still managed to skirt the issue.

Then I read Audre Lorde’s words and realized that maybe I hadn’t. Oh it’s a rough draft, and it will need some revision, but I doubt I will insert any breasts or throbbing members. The scene was an exploration of the characters hidden feelings and desires, the need for a temporary connection with another. I think these are all things that are best represented through the sensual not the physical.

Thank You Audre.

Poetry: Linguistic Dreams

Audre Lorde begins her essay “Poetry is Not a Luxury” by stating that:

The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives.

Lorde refers to poetry as the “revolutionary distillation of experience,” viewing poetry as the way in which humans name the nameless. 

Just as a dream is to consciousness, so is poetry to language.  Safe from the censorship of coherency, images surface from the subconscious, fragmented, yet fluid. It is here that women first began to define themselves. It is here that we will continue to redefine who we are.

Gilbert and Gubar note in their landmark work Madwoman in the Attic:

For all literary artists, of course, self-definition necessarily precedes self-assertion: the creative ‘I AM’ cannot be uttered if the “I” knows not what it is.

The dream speaks of secret knowledge: wisdom the self is not yet ready to acknowledge, not yet capable of comprehending. Poetry serves the same function for language, reducing radical concepts into individual images that can slip past the censor of conventional thought. 

It is through this process that poetry shapes and forms new linguistic ideas, ideas that will one day transform conventional thought. 

Copyright Explained–Brilliant Parody

Again, Sean Merrigan from Editred has found this little gem on Youtube. It is a brilliant parody that fully explains the legal issues surrounding copyright. (Just in case you have been wondering . . . and I know you have.)

Who is Audre Lorde?

Well, amidst the many projects I am undertaking at the moment, I finally finished Heilbrun’s Reinventing Womanhood. Her closing comments on the division between French and American feminism seem to segue perfectly into my next book:

Speaking of the French feminists of her time, Heilbrun notes:

Following the theoretical work of Lacan and Derrida, they analyze language, finding it, throughout history, both phallocentric and “written out”: that is, male history is the text we know, and is exhausted. The psychic structuring of women cannot, in their opinion be changed, but it can be written into language, female-centered.

This not only reminds me of Woolf’s cry for a “new” female narrative, but it seems to foreshadow Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider. The advisor on my graduate thesis mailed me a copy of the essay “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action.” (The quote at the top of my side bar comes from that essay.) Since I enjoyed the essay so much, I bought the book.

Born in New York to Caribbean immigrants, Audre Lorde later became a critically acclaimed novelist, poet, and essayist. With a BA in Literature and a Master’s in Library Sciences, Lorde first supported herself as a librarian, but would later become a Professor of English working at various universities.

Lorde won a number of grants and awards and was a very prolific writer. However, much of her writing expresses the sense of isolation she felt. As a feminist, Caribbean American, lesbian, she found herself in not only in the margins of mainstream America, but of its subcultures as well. When she attempted to integrate herself into the “gay girl” scene of Greenwich Village in the 1950’s, she recalls being one of only a few Black girls. This small minority, within a minority community refrained from building any bonds with one another, however, since it would endanger their status as exotic outsiders.

She expresses this frustration in “The Transformation of Silence”:

Within this country where racial difference creates a constant, if unspoken distortion of vision, Black women have on one hand always been highly visible, and so, on the other hand, have been rendered invisible through the depersonalization of racism.

“The Transformation of Silence” also gives us an indication that Lorde was indeed influenced by French Feminism as she writes:

Each of us is here now* because in one way or another we share a commitment to language and to the power of language, and to the reclaiming of that of that language which has been made to work against us. In the transformation of silence into language and action, it is vitally necessary for each one of us to establish or examine her function in that transformation and to recognize her role as vital within that transformation.

_{* this paper was delivered to a live audience on December 28, 1977 in Chicago Illinois.}

Congrats to me! I’m a Thinking Blogger.

Shhhh . . . Quite. I’m thinking here.

Well, at least one generous reader thinks so. Nina Munteanu, Sci-Fi Writer and author of the blog The Alien Next Door, has honored me with the Thinking Blogger Award.

Thinking Blogger Award, created by Ilker Yoldas of The Thinking Blog, does come with a hitch, however. (Damn! You knew it!) It’s not a bad hitch though. Here’s the fine print–as it was cut and pasted directly from Nina’s blog. (What? I should reinvent the wheel? I have a lot of thinking to do.)

1. if, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think;

2. link to this post, so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme; and,

3. (optional) proudly display the “thinking Blogger Award” with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative gold version if silver doesn’t fit your blog).

So there you have it. I, as a Thinking Blogger, have been handed the immense responsibility of choosing five blogs worthy of such an award themselves . . . hmm.

I decided to honor blogs that either took a critical look at literature or served as interesting expressions of the female narrative. My only other caveat: the blogs I choose needed to contain recent and fairly regular postings. Now, digital rhythm track please . . .

the hidden side of a leaf  a book blog so named after a Toni Morrison quote. She has a fabulous quote nestled within her sidebar which reads, “The answers you get from literature depend on the questions you pose.” (Margaret Atwood)

Feminist SF - The Blog! With multiple contributors, this blog critically examines how women are represented in Science Fiction.

Extemporaneous Heather’s poetry expresses female sexuality in a sensual, unappologetic way. Forget what your parents and your pastor may have told you and explore your reaction to these sometimes erotic images.

What possessed me After clicking the link you may be asking me the same question. Do I really consider this serious intellectual content? Persephone explores the world of single womanhood in a self deprecating way that makes you giggle. Is she for real, a fictional character, or an online alter ego? Who cares? I hand her the Thinking Blogger award because an idiot couldn’t possibly sustain such wry humor.

Mamacita Her tag line is, “humor, news and entertainment for women who can’t be fooled.” Joan’s multi-tasking, multiple role life-style humorously mirrors what many modern woman cope with everyday. she ingeniuosly illustrates that the self does not die in the delivery room.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a prominate place on my sidebar to hang my new meme.

Bonds Between Women

What deos it mean to be a mentor? 

In Reinventing Womanhood, Heilbrun points out that the myth of Demeter and Persephone is more than just a story about a mother/daughter relationship, but about female bonding.

Heilbrun points out that Demeter was part of a triad of gods that had equal power. It is interesting to note the realms over which they reigned.  Demeter ruled the civilized/cultivated earth while Zues ruled the heavens and Hades ruled the underworld.

Heilbrun interprets the story this way:

“when Hades attempted to ‘takeover’ a younger woman companion (whether or not  her daughter), she fought with the power that was hers as an autonomous god. The result was a compromise”

Demeter’s attempt to liberate her daughter without resorting to self-sacrafice starkly contrasts many modern stereo-types of the dutiful mother.  In fact, women in general are often depicted as either competative or self-sacraficing, rather than cooperative agents of a female community. Since what we read influences how we think, it is important for those of us who write to consider how we can alter these stereo-typical bonds between women.

As Heilbrun writes:

That women have power, and might  use it  in support of one another and to make fair bargains with the patriarchal world, is an idea few women have imagined, and few acted upon. They have let men tell them who they are and what they are entitled to.

Advice on Character Sketch

We have Sean Merrigan over at Editred.com to thank for this little gem. The Author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynn Truss has written some advice on the economy of facial description (”Character Studies“).  I thought I would pass it along.

The Reviews are In!

Well ok, so it’s really only one review. Always concerned about quality content, I submitted my blog to CRITIQUE MY BLOG (I believe the only blog of its kind) and author Billy Mac was very prompt in his response:

New to the blog scene is the Modern Matriarch, a niche blog that focuses mainly on writing and literature. The blog is only a month or so old and has already had over 2000 visitors which is not too shabby . . . Good luck and love the blog! Keep up the great work.

Those three dots there, no no up there, that’s were Billy Mac gave me some advice on increasing blog traffic which I had mentioned as one of my concerns when I emailed. One of his suggestions–nomination for blog awards. Hmmm. What do you think my faithful niche readers? Does Modern Matriarch warrant award nomination? If so where and in what categories?

If you would like to read Billy Mac’s review of Modern Matriarch or request a review of your own blog, I have provided the link here.  

Myths and Fairy Tales

A curious women reeks havoc in a perfect world.  A handsome prince rescues a fair maiden from some ill-gotten obscurity. This is how we have been taught to interpret the myths and fairy tales handed down to us from distant ancestors.

Most of these stories have served as a thorn in the side of feminist interpretation for generations. But, Heilbrun suggests, they don’t have to be. After all, they are only stories, to be owned and interpreted as we wish.

In Chapter 5 of Reinventing Womanhood, “Search for a Model: History and Literature”, Heilbrun sites the work of Erich Neuman. In his interpretation of Cupid and Psyche, Neuman:

plots the movement of Psyche from the unquestioning lover of a man, her husband, to the awakening of consciousness and demands not only for her own evolution, but for his acceptance of their separateness, their distinct individualities.

A cursory reading of this myth may leave one with the impression that it is a story of faithlessness overcome by devotion. Or, one may view it an allegorical representation of the nature of women.

Neumann implies, however, that this myth operates as a mystic journey to self-hood. Heilbrun summarizes:

Psyche must be persuaded to break the taboo her husband has impossed on her, that she may not see him or know “who he is.” It is the ever-recurring ‘never question me,’ the order not to enter the ‘closed room.’

Neuman suggests that the sisters are not evil, as generally represented or interpreted, but are a force for liberation. Without their influence Pysche would have remained dependent and immature. By defying her husband, Pysche begins a process which eventually leads to her own place amongst the gods and true equality alongside her husband.

Heilbrun suggests we similarly reinterpret fairy tales such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty:

Suppose–and what else does one do with fairy tales–that the prince in Cinderella stood, not for the girl’s need to love a man, transferred in proper Freudian fashion from papa to husband, but for her other self, that “masculine” part of herself, externalized in the story . . . 

Does Cinderella not step into a shoe that fits only her? Could that not represent the manifestation of her own self-created destiny. Could not Sleeping Beauty be a story of rebirth after death, of awaking to her own sense of self-hood?

To Heilbrun’s point, the female author need not lament the lack of feminist literary models, she need only look at old models with new eyes.