Rewriting

Based on themes from 'The Wide Sargasso' Sea by Jean Rhys (O'beah is a spell in the West Indies)

Rewriting

Germs of insanity

spill from lips

swelled and dark.

The legacy of imperialism

casts its o’beah

where my horse

lays dead

under the frangipani.

This parochial colonialism

casts me intemperate,

unchaste,

imprisons my soul

in a foreign land.

No voice

for the marginalised,

dream like images

resonate in the flames.

 

08/09/12

Author's Note

In 'The Wide Sargasso Sea' Jean Rhys rewrote a character from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre because she did not feel it had expressed her well enough and was racist in its neglect. My poem tells the tale in a few chosen words all adopted from the commentary and the Penguin Student Edition of the novel .

Reviews

[Lisa Ring]

I love it, John. I do agree with your social commentary on "colonialism"...such an imprisoning force that steals the very soul of those "colonized", or should I write, attempts to steal. "Germs of insanity" is very effective, insanity does seem to infect and spread rather quickly.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Hi Lisa, good to hear from you. This piece is a plagaristic one taken from the Penguin version of the Wide Sargasso Sea and the commentary therein

[Neville]

Very well written I must say, but not entirely my cup of tea this one John. However, on re-reading 'rewriting' it might be growing on me. See you on the 25th -AGT's Neville

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Hi Nev, too much of an intelectual piece. Hey no sex in sight! See you soon.