a way of knowing that all you know
is all there is to know
a way of speaking so that everyone
else knows to remain silent
a way of being that lets you walk through life
oblivious to the pain of others
a way of making asymmetric war
against the powerless
a way of using your body as a weapon
and then calling it love
Notes
Sometimes when you write a poem it comes out in a rush and lands complete. This is one of those rare poems. I wrote it back in 2007 and have no recollection of what prompted it.
It has now finally made it into one of my books, The Sacking of the Muses, which will be launched in late October and be available overseas around the same time. It was published previously in Sinister Wisdom, Number 71.
The Sacking of the Muses brings together more than a decade of poems, some of which had their origins in a four-month literature residency I had in Chennai in 2009. While there I had the chance to experience some fantastic theatre through a friendship that developed with actor, director, writer, academic Mangai which came about by sitting at a table next to her in a cafe. Sometimes serendipity changes your life.
The cover image is of Kapila Venu performing the classical Indian theatre form Nangiar Koothu. I took the photo at her performance of the story of Putana. I would not have seen this had Mangai not suggested I go and see this show.
The poems in the collection pick up a number of threads from the Mahabharata, particularly the women’s stories of love, exile and war, some draw on my continuing studies of Sanskrit. The second half takes a different direction with poems that draw on Greek and Latin and these poems are more lesbian-centric (though the Amba poems from the Mahabharata also take up this theme). It’s been a long time in the making and is also intended as both a critique of patriarchy and a celebration of the enduring history of women and of lesbians.
(Meet Mago Contributor) Susan Hawthorne.