Category Archives: quote unquote

Quote

Lalleshwari: clad only in sky

19 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by in quote unquote

≈ Comments Off on Lalleshwari: clad only in sky

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

These are two translations of the same poem:


Dance, Lalla, with nothing on

but air. Sing, Lalla,

wearing the sky.


Look at this glowing day! What clothes

could be so beautiful, or

more sacred?   

Barks, Coleman. Naked Song. Lalla. Athens, GA: Maypop, (1992)

<><><><>


Dance then, Lalla, clothed but by the
air;

Sing, thou, Lalla, clad but in the sky.

Air and sky: what garment is more fair?


Dance then Lalla, clothed by the air;

Sing then Lalla, clad but by the sky.

Air and sky; what garmant is more fair?

‘Cloth’, saith custom; ’ doth that
sanctify?’

Temple, Sir Richard Carnac. The
words of Lalla, The Prophetess: Being the sayings of Lal Ded or Lal
Diddhi of Kashmir. Cambridge University Press (1924)

<><><><><><>

Lalleshwari (1320–1392) was a female mystic of the Kashmiri Shaivite sect. She was a creator of the mystic poetry called vatsun or Vakhs, literally “divine speech.”  As a child she was married at the age of 12 into a family that was reported to have regularly mistreated her. After becoming a disciple of Sidh Srikanth, she renounced her material life and marriage to become a devotee of the god Shiva. As a mystic, she wandered naked, reciting her proverbs and quatrain-based poems. Her verses are the earliest compositions in the Kashmiri language and are an important part in history of Kashmiri literature.

Quote

the kingdom that wind scorns

18 Saturday Apr 2015

Posted by in Poetry, quote unquote

≈ Comments Off on the kingdom that wind scorns

Tags

, , , , , , ,

afterlife in polaroids

I.

There’s a pink motel 

somewhere for me. I 

can’t wait to go haunt 

it.  When I’m dead. I will 

be. Giant pink
eerie lips 

that make soft num-

num sounds.  It
is said 

a pound of flesh will get 

you a lot
less than it did

in your parent’s day.  

II.

I’ve
read there is no kissing in hell. 

III.

It’s a shame lips 

don’t survive. Bones 

become the playhouse 

of ghosts; after 

scavengers discard 

them, worms
bask 

in them, a kingdom 

that the wind scorns.

IV.

What if it all came down 

to this?
subdued spots 

where I could paint your 

toes?  A calm sink to
spit 

into?  Our bodies behind 

closed pink doors.
Crude 

motel shadows at bath. 

Relaxed and wild with
it 

we start, we end our days 

as a mirror image.

Quote

quote unquote

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in Armenia, Feminism, quote unquote

≈ Comments Off on quote unquote

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Salome dances her dance of the seven veils,
The men all eye her like wolves on the hunt, this beautiful girl
finally undressing for them. Finally they can see her
exactly as they want to.
The first veil drops.

In 2007, Kim Kardashian’s ex-boyfriend
released their sex tape against her will.
Kim Kardashian, rather than hide in shame
Used the publicity to promote her own career.
Salome moves like a dream half-remembered.
Salome dances like a siren song. All the men ache
to see the hot sugar of her hip bones.
The second veil drops.
In 2014, Kim Kardashian walks down the aisle
As the whole world watches. If only all of us
were so successful in our revenge.
If only all of us stood in our Louboutin heels
on the backs of the men who betray us,
surveying the world we created for ourselves.

The third veil drops.

Kim Kardashian knows exactly what you think of her.
She presses the cloth tighter against her skin
Her smile is a promise she never intends to keep

We can almost see all of her.
Salome shows us her body
but never her eyes.
The fourth veil is dropping.
The four things most recently tweeted at Kim Kardashian were
@KimKardashian Suck My Dick
@Kim Kardashian Can I Meet Kanye?
@KimKardashian Please Fuck Me
@KimKardashian I Love You. I Love You.

Women are told to keep their legs shut.
Women are told to keep their mouths shut.
Some women are kept silent for so long,
They become experts in the silent theft of power.
The fifth veil has dropped.
Kim Kardashian made $12 million dollars this year
Yesterday, uncountable men in their miserable jobs,
told their miserable friends that Kim was a “dumb whore”
Kim Kardashian will never learn their names.

Clementine von Radics (via clementinevonradics)

seen on rebloggy.com/kim kardashian

(via oduor-oduku)

O hell yes! There is very little
positive representation of Armenian women on the web and in the
media. If you scratch the surface, up and beyond historic poets and
artists, you will read about the ones we’ve lost, like Zaruhi Petrosyan, silenced
through domestic violence; and yet Armenian feminism and LGBT rights are alive and well in Yerevan and Gyumri. 

Always these are who I call
heroes.

Quote

Speaking Between the Lines: Line-lengths and What They Can Do For You

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in quote unquote

≈ Comments Off on Speaking Between the Lines: Line-lengths and What They Can Do For You

Tags

, , , ,

twritersdirectory:

LIn
this series we will look at the fundamental elements of poetry, from individual
units of sound to grand uses of metaphor and imagery. By examining the
different ways skilled writers implement these elements we can gain a greater
understanding of the ways poetry works and improve both our practice of writing
poetry and our appreciation of reading it.

In the first article of this series we began at the
end, by examining line-breaks and how the different choices made when ending a
line can influence the readers’ perception of a poem. By examining a poetic
element that we almost take for granted when reading, I hoped to show that
every tool in the poet’s arsenal can be used to great effect.

But today we are going to take a step back and
examine the line as a whole, to explore this most fundamental element of
poetry. The ‘line’ is the most basic way a poem can be organised. It forces us
to be aware of sections of speech we run through quickly in prose, and/or
internalise the speech patterns of the poem’s speaker.

Different movements—and writers—in poetry have
various emphasised these two functions of poetry. For some people a line should
mirror the lengths of breaths in speech; for others it should contain and focus
on singular images or thoughts.

By the end of this article I hope to have discussed
both philosophies. I also hope to show that far from an unconscious, arbitrary choice,
line-lengths in free verse poetry are full of meaning and importance which
skilled writers can use to fully embellish their writing.

Read More

Quote

one should always be drunk that is all that matters

17 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by in French, quote unquote, Translation

≈ Comments Off on one should always be drunk that is all that matters

Tags

, , , ,

One should always be drunk. That is all
that matters; so as not to feel Time’s
horrid burden that breaks your shoulders and grinds you down, you
must get drunk without resting.

But on what? On wine, poetry, or virtue
as you please. But get drunk.

And if, at some time, on steps of a
palace, or in the green grass of a ditch, or in the bleak loneliness
of your room, as you wake and find your  drunkenness already dying
away, ask the wind, ask the wave, ask the stars, ask the clock – all
that which runs, all that which groans, all that which rolls, all
that which sings, all that which speaks – ask them, what time is it?
and the wind, the waves, the stars, the birds, and the clock, will
all reply:  “It’s time to get drunk! So that you may not be the
martyred slaves of Time, get drunk, get drunk and never pause for
rest! On wine, poetry, or virtue, as you please!”

– Charles Baudelaire