strong. I’ve downloaded her selected poems, thanks to you.
Discussion
Wow!! Hope you enjoy them. I got the book “Come & See” — where you can find this poem— off my shelves now.
whole poem:
“Out of It
During re-education you can't learn.
Fear of the fist
produces self-censorship.
Thought wavers.
You fear ideas.
The ferry lets out a yelp and you jump.
Your hands are numb and nonfunctional.
They cover your lips unable to utter a syllable.
What have you learned?
The nurse in blue
loosens your wristwatch to let the blood flow.
Up you jump and run
when an angry man comes in. This is a house of true learning.
You must, you must avoid that fist!”
~Fanny Howe 
One more…. (hope it’s not too heavy)
“I have humiliated myself so I can participate in the city.
I have smothered my own cries in order to survive.
I have tied myself down to the number system
so I can disappear into the stream of the economy.
Whenever an old woman is seen going
into a dark forest with two children you know they are escaping.
They are not dying. Why else would they be so bright of eye?”
~Fanny Howe 
so… nostr 💜
What’s interesting about the poem is her use of “I” — for 5 lines— then a transition into “old woman” — and then she addresses a “you.”
The aspect of time intrigues me— the type of poem that can be placed in many places— “dark forest” — real & surreal
“humiliation” — a powerful word. Invokes the audience on multiple levels.
the use of they caught my attention. it’s how howe autorefers, no? dark forest would be themselves then as well as the woman and the two children, holistic af thus timeless
damn, woman. this must be translated.