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Position:Home>Poetry> What say to the Poem, "Jonah-Woman"?Question: What say to the Poem, "Jonah-Woman"!? Who are these white-capped jesters!.!.!.and jackals Who have placed me in the belly of a White death-stinking fish!? Not this time, not Jonah-time fish!. Not walking out safe from Jonah's fish!. No!. Not this time!. The jesters and tittering hyenas, with their night-lumin Eyes, who tiptoe soft through the loud-hinged door!.!.!. And shut it quietly-quick behind them!. They are breathing to find me!. They safari hunt for me!.!.!.beating the bush-room!. Mine!. I am hiding in the pillow, in the chest of drawers, In the air!. They can't find me with their needles and needle-quick Pills!. The rancid, disinfected fish is down the hall, around the Corner!.!.!.on the ceilings!. I can sense death rattles!.!.!.quick as goodbye from Yesterday!. The fish swallows the soft, noisy passage!. The fish is Hill House!. The fish is the jackals' den!. The fish, with no fins, rummages the halls, airborne, Hovering on moon-shadowed winds!. A scream, a gurgle, the fish forgets me for the moment!. The jesters still seek, seethe!. They have other work now!. Something is wrong!. Something is amiss in Heaven!. They have placed me in a room with no art!. There is someone at the door!.!.!.snuffling dog noises!. Who are you that you do not answer me!? The dog has gone!. I think it has gone!.!.!.but I do not think It was a dog!. They have taken everything!. Even the name of my Father!.!.!. Given it to the jackals!. This, my scent!. They seethe out of their fish-den, carefully stepping over It's teeth!. Man-shark teeth!. Death teeth!. They walk with needles balanced on a tray!.!.!.rainbow pills In teensy, little cups!.!.!.watch me to make sure I've swallowed The rainbow!. Something is my God wrong!. Something should not be happening!. I cannot walk out of this vile fish!.!.!.like Jonah!. I cannot go Past it's teeth!. I am afraid!.!.!.more of a coward!. Even your God cannot help me now!. I fear the teeth will SNAP! shut when I'm half-way through the Opening!. Will anyone care if the jackals laugh, lapping my blood!.!.!. While I walk away from a white death-fish!? Walking home!. Walking alone!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: By the fourth stanza i knew ,,,or I thought I knew where you were taking me ,,Patients walk in or are strapped in never to be seen again Sorry Nurse Ratchet I'm colored blind ,,,,no,no-more pills,,, Publishers are like lawyers They all look good at the bottom of the ocean Elys,,How you could bring me from outright laughter to deep thought Back to Back is amazing!!! Truly Gifted, Www@QuestionHome@Com "They have placed me in a room with no art" surely a definition of creative hell, where madness is a prerequisite for entry!. Disturbing and yet vivid poem!. Very confronting!. The inner turmoil of a spontaneous mind (and not just the poet's lol) Skilfully crafted and expressed!. PS I wouldn't be Jellz if I didn't add "whale done Elys"Www@QuestionHome@Com I got everything in this poem - except what it meant!. Sometimes Additional Details are needed for me to complete it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com You have done it again!.!.!.bravo! As for the rejection, I would say, consider the source!. Some people are just small minded!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Very powerful!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Once you mentioned Hospitals I can see what you meant!. Many who go there do not return!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Over the last 2 1/2 years I've been in 3 hospitals!. Al the same, all like the poem!.Www@QuestionHome@Com this was awesome!. it had fear in it and it kept me on my toes wondering what will be next!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Why you make Torpid O's brain hurt!?Www@QuestionHome@Com Oh!.!.!.Hospitals!.!.!.Thought it was your roomies!.!.!.Some artist paint with brushes!.!.!.you use rollers and spray guns !!!!!!!Www@QuestionHome@Com Elys, you made my ribs tighten!. This is superb imagery, I could taste the adrenalin anxiety!. Yes, I've looked into eyes that had no bottom to them and felt the contagion trying to get out!. A room with no art, wonderful!. Some of this poem reminded me of The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall!. If you haven't read it it's worth picking up!. I can't really describe it as there is no other book like it that I have read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com This seems to portray a mental hospital!. The poem gets into the mind of a very frightened patient!. But what has religion or lack of it to do with poetry!? If you had sent it to a religious publication, I would understand because of the line "Even your God!.!.!."!. There are many things I don't understand about poetry and how it is judged! Www@QuestionHome@Com I have never read Sylvia Plath!.!.!.!.I understand she suffered from terrible depression!.!.!.!.not my cup of tea!. However, before I got to your footnote I had already decided that this poem could have been written by a patient in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!. I am so grateful that I am who I am, and not subject to depression or mental illness!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I have been in so many hospitals, I knew that I related to this as I absorbed these powerful words, even before the illuminating additional details!. I was trapped against my will, and the experience was truly like being swallowed alive by a "white death-stinking fish"!. I am left stunned!. You are incredible!. Thank you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I have only read a few of hers, must make more time!. Although i did buy Deka III today! This took a few readings, which for a poem is usually good, to get the meanings!. Powerful in words and statement!. USA Forklift wrote one a while back from personal experiences!. A lot of similarities and looking at confusion and depression and reality rubberized!. Very good!. Hang that letter on the wall!. A merit badge!Www@QuestionHome@Com The Publishers ~~~~DPM~~~~ They have castrated their monsters with ordinary muse They mutilate their saviors with debauchery and booze They segue their derision with sanctity and vile And watch in wide wonder while we wade through their bile!. The gatekeeper snickers as he barricades the moat and the nut-less one bickers as we open his throat!. Www@QuestionHome@Com As a nurse, I find this a hard thing to read!. But as a human being first I have seen all these scenes and often been part of them!. I learned a long time ago that the screams of a mad woman are not always that of a mad woman screaming!. I remember a patient of mine, now dead, who was totally psychotic!. I asked why she refused her medication!. This very elderly woman was a painter and poet!. She told me, "when I take them the art goes away"!. I never pushed her to take them again, although I never knew what she'd chuck at my head when I came through the door!Www@QuestionHome@Com I agree with Andrew,,, how you can transition from your jovial pick-me-up rib tickling to something as deep as this is beyond me, whether written in the same day or not,,, I guess I just do not think in those very broad swaths,,, HOWEVER,,, I am delighted you do and can!. I'll need to read this again after work is done for the day and I am bit more relaxed, to say nothing of being less harried and hurried by Monday's over blown wannabe crisis events besieging my lame brain!. Thank you, thank youWww@QuestionHome@Com |