Prometheus by Nicolas-Sébastien Adam, 1762 (Louvre) – Public Domain
here begins her
soliloquy in a minor key
a complex subtext
contortion of the plot
he shouts defense of natural law
impulses of his sexual proclivities
mistaking law for justice
longstanding psycho-logic trick
incestuous gods revenge
apocalypse of politics
the tragic Titan fallout
of an autoerotic tryst
*The title is from Goethe’s Prometheus: ‘Here sit I, forming mortals’
Here is the writer who with all his heart and soul, with his art, in anguish and travail offers nourishment – there is the reader who’ll have none of it, and if he wants, it’s only in passing, offhandedly, until the phone rings. Life’s trivia are your undoing. You are like a man who has challenged a dragon to a fight but will be yapped into a corner by a little dog. from Ferdydurke
I’m an Executive Director with a doctorate in education, a consultant, painter, photographer, composer, poet, and vocalist.
Language casts sheaves of reality upon the social body, stamping it and violently shaping it… Language as a whole gives everyone the same power of becoming an absolute subject through its exercise. But gender, an element of language, works upon this ontological fact to annul it as far as women are concerned and corresponds to a constant attempt to strip them of the most precious thing for a human being – subjectivity. Gender is an ontological impossibility because it tries to accomplish the division of Being. But Being is not divided. God or Man as being are One and whole. So what is this divided Being introduced into language through gender? It is an impossible Being, it is a Being that does not exist, an ontological joke, a conceptual maneuver to wrest from women what belongs to them by right: conceiving of oneself as a total subject through the exercise of language. The result of the imposition of gender, acting as a denial at the very moment when one speaks, is to deprive women of the authority of speech, and to force them to make their entrance in a crablike way, particularizing themselves and apologizing profusely. The result is to deny them any claim to the abstract, philosophical, political discourses that give shape to the social body. Gender then must be destroyed. The possibility of its destruction is given through the very exercise of language. For each time I say ‘I’ I reorganize the world from my point of view and through abstraction I lay claim to universality. This fact holds true for every locutor.
All the things that really matter to us are impossible…Writing poetry is impossible. I don’t know how to write a poem. A poem – there has to be a part of it that is not my own will; it comes from somewhere that I don’t know. There is so much that comes out of what we don’t know and what we don’t have any control over. I think that one of the only things we can learn as we get older is a certain humility. – from Doing the Impossible
This is intriguing – very curious. I enjoyed, but can you give me an idea of what I’m reading? I liked as is, but I want to love it.
This has set my mind working – thank you!
Use of the minor Key creates the atmosphere for me, along with that breath-taking sculpture of Prometheus. This may seem strange, but for me this poem evoked the whole tragic fiasco of the rape case involving the Stanford grad student…the references to defense, sexual proclivities, and (in)justice. But then that has been on my mind the last couple of days.
Excellent write 🙂
I was thinking of the rape victim’s part as I read your poem Anna. She is caught in a complex subtext and the powerful Gods always have their defense don’t they. Such events and (in)justices have a way of forming us.
“And justice for all.”; smile. Much as I hate it, Sanders (even Trump) has been worked over by the “good old boy” system, the political bought-and-manipulated machine. : “Bernie is not for sale,” 3 cheers, but he’s not getting nominated either. Human nature, rampant cronyism & dishonesty (remember Junior’s hanging chads, & how the electoral college over ruled the popular vote?).
Love your poem, always dig mythos, but–don’t get me started.
Intriguing… not sure I understood the context though..but a captivating poem.
Mistaking law for justice – so often do we believe they are the same… Maybe the biggest tragedy is that most of us are just spectators.
Three myths conflated here — the archetypal lovers, the war between Titan and Olympians and the those poor sap mortals ever heeled by the gods — are they the ones who gave us politics, that we prove how small we really are? Did Prometheus steal fire in the manner of the rapist who was only obeying what the snake demanded? What boon to us, what punishment? Lots in the soup here, fun to stir it. Thanks Anna, hope you’ve been well –
Those ancient Gods and heroes have a lot to answer for! Not that now is much better!
Good to see your words again Anna. Complex and intriguing!
Anna :o]
Strong and powerful. True for all those that’s been roller-coasted by the ‘law’. societal or legal.
Very strong poem. We have the spirit of the law, the letter of the law and then we have….justice. Most excellent write.
Dark. I honestly can’t say I understand the context, but I, too, wonder if you are referring to the Sandford sorry.