Thursday, June 24, 2010

On Considering Audrey Lorde's Cancer Journals

A deep feminist shame pulls
into port
and crashes into splintered, wooden shards
that tear at the skin
of the one-breasted woman metaphor

the scarves of concealment and auto-bio-liberation
imagining of the was-self
becoming lost in a crowd of well-accessorized women

there is an ugliness in these burns, I know
but why should it be an unfeminine ugly?
under this carefully crafted veil of falsely
straightened hair

of course,
the collar cannot show, of course
it is a fashion statement of self-pity and other pity
a woman is already a thing of pity
enough

this slight of hand/optical illusion
would have made me disappear
at least from the wary weary eyes of my sister-sufferers

these measures of concealment are the grabbing hands
they lead women to wear turtlenecks and
long-sleeved t-shirts and heavy
make up
and they cover the mouth to capture the pain
within
the lips

so
I will hold onto the dismembered figure of the one-breasted woman metaphor
and I will make myself disappear
through my silent invisbility and two-dimensionality
no more

No comments:

Post a Comment