Fade In: Spiral biting a pinkie cuticle and Other Poems

Abstract

The following corpus of four poems indicates a knowledge and engagement with the retelling of antiquated myths in art and fiction. Chew and Swallow was informed by Francisco Goya’s Saturno devorando a su hijo (Saturn Devouring his Son), painted between 1820 and 1823. The poem investigates acts of masochism in terms of male-centric violence. It was a pity about her eyes is directly inspired from readings of John Polidori’s The Vampyre: A Tale (1819) and Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber (1979). Like Chew and Swallow, this poem explores acts of cannibalism, masochism and violence. However, It was a pity about her eyes is an exploration into the traumatic effect of sexual violence caused by men. I wrote Fade In: Spiral biting a pinkie cuticle in the form of a free verse poem that is aesthetically structured in the format of a script/screenplay. The truest moment of reflection is a palindrome; therefore, lines are repeated in descending order towards the end to demonstrate a reflective conversation between the speakers.

The selected poems focus on intricate themes of the self, horror and violence and the speakers go through a psychological process related to their mythological intertexts as each poem goes on. I close many of the poems with affirmed definitive statements reflective of newfound ideas.