Oh Maureen! I just cracked up reading your email again. Must admit I was
pretty zonked when I first read it last night.
"I tried to google Giannis the Theologian but only came up with Gianni, the
basketball player"
What a beauty of a line! Mind if I borrow it for a show?
Wxx
On 26 Jan 2019, at 5:05 pm, Maureen Sexton (Redacted sender "maureensexton"
for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi
I am going to put all my feedback in one document and send it then, but I
wanted to respond now as well. I hope that's okay.
Cheers Maureen
Hi Wahibe
Wow! I read your poem out loud and loved it! At first I thought the layout
would make it difficult to read, but I was wrong. It was perfect. It’s a very
powerful poem and one I relate to very well, even though there were a couple
of things I didn’t understand.
I tried to google Giannis the Theologian but only came up with Gianni, the
basketball player and Gianni Vattimo, the philosopher who seemed to develop
his philosophy from Nietzsche. But I decided it didn’t really matter, because
I could relate to and understand the poem without that knowledge. I grew up
with teachings from the book of John - Revelations, and the Apocalypse. I
don’t follow any religion at all now and don’t believe in god, but I can
relate to the inbuilt fear and shame.
I loved the lines ”I’ll face that unholy beast that drove my kidself
crazy/I’ll look St John in the eyes I’ll tell him:/ thanks for passing on
your anxiety attack mate/it took half my life to shrug that monkey off but I
did it” I had to do it too. I found this very strong, powerful and emotive.
I also loved the following: “as always my eyes/swivelling taking/everything
in at once/ my heart on fullpump/apokalypsis a-llypsis... a-poker-lyps
calypso/lyp-so-matic lips/slips/lyp-somatic
a-poker-lip-tick/lip-tickle/poker-lip” I could feel the anxiety, the heart
pumping!
I also loved “I went to tell old/Giannis the Theologian what I thought of him
thank him for investing a defenceless/child with his hell benumbered
monsters” Yes Revelations reads like a horror story!
And yes, “there's no shame in tears/it said be glad you have them”
Great poem!
Maureen x
Maureen Sexton
0435024616
maureensexton@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:maureensexton@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
'The haiku has this rather fantasmagorical property: that we always suppose
we ourselves can write such things easily.' Roland Barthes
LIFE IS DRAWING WITHOUT A PENCIL
