The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 4/16/08

[BlueIris]

"Postfeminism"

There are two kinds of people, soldiers and women,
as Virginia Wolf said. Both for decoration only.

Now that is too kind. It's technical: virgins and wolves.
We have choices now. Two little girls walk into a bar,

one orders a shirley temple. Shirley Temple's pimp
comes over and says you won't be sorry. She's a fine

piece of work, but she don't come cheap. Myself, I'm
in less fear of predators than of walking around

in my mother's body. That's sneaky, that's more
than naked. Let's even it up: you go on fuming in your

gray room. I am voracious alone. Blank and loose,
metallic lingerie. And rare black-tipped cigarettes

in a handmade basket case. Which of us weaves
the world together with a quicker blue of armed

seduction: your war-on-thugs, my body stockings.
Ascetic or carnivore. Men will crack your glaze

even if you leave them before morning. Pigs
ride the sirens in packs. Ah, flesh, technoflesh,

there are two kinds of people. Hot with mixed
light, drunk with insult. You and me.

—Brenda Shaugnessy

[BlueIris]

1. In "The Best American Poetry 2000," Shaugnessy wrote of "Postfeminism":

"I use the term sarcastically, since I don’t believe for a minute that feminism is 'over.' It continues to evolve as a diasporic, shape-shifting, and simultaneous series of interrogations of society but also of souls. A lifelong exploration of how naked to be, how defensive, and with whom. What battles to pick and what to wear. I wanted to write about how feminism can be both menacing and humorous, dangerous and fun! A fraught ontological playground where the floor is a quicksand of self-doubt and inherited bullshit and the glass ceiling is mirrored. This poem is about feminism as a mostly interior struggle, with the carnal body linking that interiority to its equally complicated public existence, knowing that neither public nor private spaces are what they claim to be. The battle is not between men and women, but between self and other, a blurry distinction indeed. The two kinds of people in the world are 'you and me,' that is, personally defined and blurry. Who is predator and who is prey, yours or mine, subject or object, cop or perp, oscillates between any two people up for the feminist challenge of flummoxing power with eros."

[RetroLounge]

2. nice

Ah, flesh, technoflesh,

there are two kinds of people. Hot with mixed
light, drunk with insult. You and me.


:hi:

RL

[BlueIris]

4. Yeah, that last bit is great. I always admire

any writer who can "do" a good ending. I struggle with endings. A lot.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear BlueIris!

Ah, very interesting and to my liking a great deal...

Full of meanings and colors...

Thank you!

:hi:

[BlueIris]

5. It IS colorful, isn't it?

Another quality I find in good writing—texture. Writing that touches the five senses.

[BlueIris]

6. Kick.

[BlueIris]

7. Kick.