The Liberation Of Lavinia~

~dismantling the violence of Shakespeare~

“You do not have my permission to write me like this.”

where did the thought enter
was it with the bluebird
that tore itself from the branch
as Chiron tore her body from itself
or was it the babbling brook, thick with Bassianus’ blood
that gave her courage to start shifting
letters, under horrid Shakespeare’s quill
and spill black story tar down the throat
of Aaron and Demetrius
choking them on their own lust
before they could eat her tragedy out of her mouth
and take the signs of agony from her speaking hands
or maybe it was simply, that our Lavinia
had had her fill of men shaping girls
to their perverse calligraphy
which, societal disorders
somewhere in a distorted future
would extol
as classics

“What is classic about women being raped, and men being
murdered in the most brutal fashion imaginable?”

and here, Shakespeare rubbed his eyes
because the letters were crawling all around the paper
making a woman face with huge eyes and quirky lips
the midnight allure wrapped in the dark chignon of her hair
as she pulled herself to the waist from the parchment

“You do not have permission to write me like this.”

Lavinia stated as the finest statesman would
elegance in her dialect
it flowed from between her Arabian ink lips
in a coil through the shaken spear of the man
tearing his murderous story, as she had been torn by Chiron
out of the bowl his hips
and the chalice of his skull

“Ugly world, you will not eat me alive. Future children,
I’ll spare you another painfully droll tale force fed to you in
English Lit.”

Lavinia built herself a boat from the bones of the rapists
and pulled a blue sky from Sheakspear’s eyes
as he slept in a stain of wine
on another broken story
bled to showcase the brutality of
humanity ad nauseum

But not for our alternate
Lavinia
who gave up her sight
to see the beauty beyond the ugliness of
man
who rows her boat to my balcony
and I ask
“Latte?” as I open the window to never were’s
and her graceful hand, whole and attached
reaches through
“You save so many of us.” She smiles
and my body
always in a lean half through
to UnderLand
opens on another unfairy tale
retold
reinked
restitched
by a woman’s hands . . . .


copyright:2012vssmd/amusemusepress
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Author's Note

for full poetic discourse visit~ http://seleneskye.weebly.com/random-thoughts-from-underland.html

Reviews

[.]

I understand you..this is you taking control..haven't we always been portrayed in this way for a millenia..of course it stems from when man first concocted the notion that their was a devil for woman to fear and men to protect them from..the rest is history..but even history can be re written..another pleasurable read :)

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

It is amazing to think of some of the classics and how horrific they really were for human nature... especially things like degrading women... it really does show that we have evolved a long way. But do we change the classics to suit our more civilized nature?

[RainQueen]

Oh, there is power in this write...There is always power when you wield your quill...We know history has written women into the role of corrupt Eve, weak, victim and seductress...

But woman has been written ugly in art,as well. Weak, dishonest, lesser. It's about time Athena smiles and spins our story from her gorgeous gossamer threads. A glimpse of what we, what the world - has missed.

Always and forever in awe...

[Loki Ragna-rock]

do you know Ursula le Guin's novel where character of Lavinia tears herself from the pages of Virgil's "Aeneid"? the Lavinia I know was the mother of all Romans and had no connection to the Greek centaur.

Perhaps you'll tell me the un-myth someday, the way you told "Sleeping Beauty".

[asdarkeyesclose]

You rip the text book to shreds and re-write, the way it should be written in tears and blood and human struggle. This one is electric, so many lines that blew me away. i loved the way you held your hand out to her, to every woman hurt and bewildered by life, and that symbol of freedom, so very precious. stunning writing!

[Ed Hart]

Selene, Selene, you are the queen, and have rescued Lavinia, and yourself, it seems...wonderfully wrought and ruefully wrung, my dear, my dear, my dear

[Kenneth The Poet]

I need to read more of the classics. Nice work is all I can say, because everybody else said what needed to be said.

[Kerry O'Connor]

This is an extraordinary retelling of a horrific tale.. and only you would have thought to do it in just this way. Brilliant in every aspect, Selene, but let me note these lines

and here, Shakespeare rubbed his eyes
because the letters were crawling all around the paper
making a woman face with huge eyes and quirky lips
the midnight allure wrapped in the dark chignon of her hair
as she pulled herself to the waist from the parchment...

That is not an image I'll ever forget!

[Muse]

opens on another unfairy tale
retold
reinked
restitched
by a woman’s hands . . . .

Yes the female body and soul has been tainted repeatedly by man. It's the woman's ability to regenerate and love unconditionally that enables us to heal...restitch together the old wounds and scars. But mind you that woman can be just as evil and cruel...in childhood...it was fellow woman that created most of my scars. Brilliant penning as always.

Muse

[EMF]

Candy Pole, you are not just damn good, you are a poetic force of nature. My mind is reeling from this superbity. I really need to come back and edit, but....whoa. Incredible