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Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Friday, April 25, 2014

Pain(t)ing

Willard House by Lisa Gordon Photography
They took my books
Said all that reading wasn't good
for a woman's mind
So I started writing
They burned my papers
and spilled my ink
Said my useless nattering
just proved that I wasn't 'right'
What else could I do but paint?
I painted the walls with my monthly blood
I painted the nightmares that visited my bed
I painted the screams stuck in my throat
But mostly, I painted rage
Deep, dark, red rage
I should have known better
An insane woman is an embarrassment
An angry woman is a danger
So they put me in this place
with bars on the windows like a jail
or a zoo
to be punished
and tamed.

10 comments:

Susie Clevenger said...

Women have suffered much...A powerful piece!!

Anonymous said...

powerfully drawn, and well-titled ~

Jinksy said...

That hits home...

Sumana Roy said...

sad yet powerful...

Yvonne Osborne said...

An angry woman is very dangerous. And a creative woman with a mind of her own was, is, even worse.

Mimi Foxmorton said...

Ahh-we create or we go mad.....
And woe to those who try to stop us........

hedgewitch said...

Great cadence in this, LM--very feverish and intense and wholly suitable for your blood-curdling tale. How they rob the soul, one precious thing at a time, till madness is all there is left...

Fireblossom said...

...and that is exactly what happened to any number of women who wouldn't act the way others wished for them to behave. Nonetheless, you have shown how hard it is to shut a determined woman up! What's inside her is all she's got, and no matter how messy or uncomfy-making that may be to others, paint on, dear, rage on.

Kerry O'Connor said...

You have captured that terrible anxiety and given words to the impulses that cannot be controlled. This is a heart-breaking poem.

Margaret said...

Oh. Wow. I just finished a movie based on a prompt that Fireblossom did - Seraphine. It is a French film with subtitles about an artist. It is slow, but oh, so beautiful. You might want to see it.

This poem is like a slow scream that just gets louder and louder. I am SO sorry to be responding so late - I really appreciate your participation!