- Non-Erotic Poetry
- a feminist on her balcony
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Hosanna in the highest!
it is the eastern gate,
and she, our Artemis,
dances
feral and abandoned,
her kingdom
sprawling
on soft beds
of underarm hair
Hear my psalm, harvest moon,
and baptize my tongue
in prophetic soils
and with my tears, let us paint
our words, with muddy
warpaint
and righteousness
Behold, I become
a savage altar;
a funeral pyre
where smolders
all the hateful lies
that bearded women are ugly.
Purify me under fire
and cleanse me of the million
coppered faces;
of old, dead white men
who have glared at me,
from the bottoms
of mall fountains, boasting of
wealth that would always
be out of my reach.
Let us melt them!
cast their stolen splendor
into a gleaming crown
that I shall wear when I am—
slut
whore
prude
skank
dyke
jezebel
cunt
bitch
—whatever I choose to be.
- COMMENTS
Ashesh9almost 12 years agobesides bitch ,cunt , skank ,whore a feminist can also be President , Pilot ,Journalist , Entrepreneur etc. though these labels do not connote powerful sexuality ,i guess the feminist need'nt exist to skillfully tweak/titillate the reader's imagination
Nachthexeabout 12 years agoi love the power of this one, the connection between artemis and the bearded warrior women leading into a contemplation of the bearded coins "boasting of/ wealth that would always/ be out of my reach" wow!
simply__mealmost 13 years agoI must be clueless
because I like the ending
Please lord, do not be unkind to me!
live4passionalmost 13 years agoA different point of view?
The first three stanzas felt like you were treading water going nowhere (or perhaps getting ready to fly off that obviously inspirational balcony of yours lol)
And then you made a hUge splash with the fourth + fifth. Your prayer. An absolutely genius image cast from "copper faces". The list.. no big deal.
The two final stanzas together could have stood alone and yet entirely made the poem for me.
Good effort.
WillowedCabinalmost 13 years agoAuthorI am not an anthropologist, nor do I fully grasp the history of paganism, however Artemis is merely a construct for a deity that has existed far longer than the cultural construct of virginity. She represents a lot of things; namely women and the wild hunt (if you look up even a cursory definition of Artemis you'll find she is listed as overseeing childbirth as well as virginity... which is a bit contradictory). I chose her because of her wild femininity, lack of consort (Orion excluded...), relationship to the moon, her equal standing with man (namely, her twin Apollo), and her bad-ass attitude. And as for the matter of the trite ending, we can all be in agreement. I agonized over that ending. I was attempting to make these derogatory words powerful, and now resign that I have fallen short of the mark. I really want to use them, but I'm not sure I've figured it out yet. Ah, well! Back to the drawing board.
ishtatalmost 13 years agoI'm a bit lost with this one and can't quite figure out what the relationship between the first 3 stanzas might be. Maybe you should add virgins and young girls to your list in the last stanza considering Artemis was their protector.
Not going to mark it now, will have another look later.
twelveoonealmost 13 years agoan interesting first line, and I follow them to the fourth stanza, gleefully forgiving of everything that remotely would be suspect, until...slut.
Disclaimer: Following should not effect your judgment. Intended for the authour.
Even though contrast is introduced "prude" etc. the ending strikes me as trite. Seems like a mere variation of virgin,whore thing. Partially forgiven by the title.
A5 - gladly.
simply__mealmost 13 years agoto stay on your good side
between this one and the last, you'd make an interesting date!
I'm beginning to enjoy your poetic attitude as well as what you write
the ending is good
no suggestions 5
