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 :)

[Beccy]

Not Shakespeare's finest hour; and 'tis no excuse he was perhaps simply jumping on the ticket sales bandwagon, such drivel being the kind of stuff that was extremely popular with audiences at the time. Titus Andronicus is merely one of a very long list of plays down the ages, that are little more than exercises in gratuitous violence; and still today, such rubbish continues; Sarah Kane's, play, 'Cleansed,' being just one example from many.

Sadly, four centuries on and men are still shaping girls.

Beccy.

[Hiddenfire]

well, wow. That was quite a read, very fast paced and I could feel my heartbeat and eyes rushing along as the story progressed. Of course, after looking up the history it all makes perfect sense, it has to be the most violent play he wrote, and who would want to be remembered the way she was!
I loved reading it, esp. the repeating of the opening line: "You do not have my permission to write me like this."

and:
"was it with the bluebird,
that tore itself from the branch
as Chiron tore her body from itself"
Great imagery.

[Robin]

I always believed as writers we have a duty to serve the imagination , to use our ability and talents to create a pathway to the dream , "to see the beauty beyond the ugliness of man" provide an escape from the horrors of the patriarchal drone from a compassionless black void . Your voice is powerful , and illuminates the path .

[CatOfOrion]

This is absolutely breathtaking! The imagery and power demonstrated through the structure and the sounds was brilliantly assembled, along with the diction. The story told is one that is admirable and captures interest almost instantly as you begin to read.

[Poeticpiers]

I guess you don't care much for the Bard. Enjoyed your words immensely
I think he greatly overrated although much of his work consist s
of themes stolen from other writers.
I suspect though that women will and have always controlled men secretly

[Bare trees]

Your usual colorful and imaginative flair for writing is always and consistently intact. Man has been a beast from the beginning of time and still finds a way to scuttle and plunder everything in his way even now. The fact that you would show the classic writing of Shakespeare as violent with rape and murder with proof is another example/evidence of man's destructive ways which it seems is in continuity with past history from the Vikings to the Romans to the present.

I heard yesterday on a radio talk show I stumbled upon that Martin Luther advocated hazing at schools as a way to prepare young men for the real world--odd.

I've never delved into Shakespeare but you've shed some light on his writing I was only partly aware of. Your imagination and knowledge always create great writing. This is no exception.

[Rikkevi Rue]

Ah fair Selene, but you do please in siding with the underdog! Perhaps Shakespeare's words were but social commentary in historic context, to the still extent brutalities of his own era's days. Would most conscientious "plebes" principles sway to higher humanitarian reason? Nonetheless far more damage done to the fairer sex by Shakespeare's insidious Tamora in my opinion. Deceptive in the extreme and blacker to the core than a witches heart plus yielding a psychopaths mind; that she could so artfully orchestrate all that mayhem!!! Goth and Roman men alike all mere pawns at her hand! That poor fair Lavinia should suffer such fate as revenge for Tamora's grief at her own sons fate (albeit at the hands of men) is a far more scathing comment of women and serves more to taint one's view of Le Femmes!! If "Titus Andronicus" indeed mirrored Shakespeare's artistic sensibilities...well maybe next time you can save Tamora as well ;-)

Pure enjoyment, your work is all so superb!!!

[Aidz]

As the ink dries on another sacred skin, the girl that is Lavinia traipses through another realm into the Underworld on gravel scared knee

As always Selene a treasure

[Kathryneo]

Oh God, sooo long since I've visited you here. Such greatness.

[JelliFyshKissUs]

Oh my gawd!
I can never review without doing a full history of the subject (mostly why it takes me so long, but I could care less. I'm a woman of quality not quantity.) and as I read the original tale of this poor Lavina and the others, my stomach churned with a sadness that was intolerable. Not for the subject matter, but for the lack of meaning or moral within the story. It teaches nothing. I came away filling empty... drained... like so many of the movies today. And I believe that which you are doing is truly inspirational. Our eyes, ears, lips, and hands groom us for the world. What we take in does matter, must matter. Our moments of infancy... and our mimicking of what we saw and heard teaches us that. And once I read the true horror that was the Shakespearean version, I needed this tale from Underland to becalm my heart. So thank you, Dovely, for caring!