Sunday Picnic

[alee_grrl]

Sunday, every Sunday, let's have a community picnic. It's probably been a long week, and it's lovely to have a few minutes to sit back and relax and enjoy some good conversation in a less formal space. Feel free to bring something for the Picnic Basket - a poem you liked this week, a thought you had or something you experienced, or even something completely unrelated to poetry whatsoever that you just feel like sharing. Just take a moment to say hello, and maybe have a bite to eat; no one is going anywhere fast, and the shade promises some relief from the everyday heat. Let’s get to know each other a bit better, here under the branches of the poet’s tree.

Comments

[lynnoconnacht]

They've been okay-to-good up to yesterday. My favourite so far this month is The Honey Month by Amal El-Mohtar. It is so gorgeous. I do not even have words to describe it, but I want to rush out and get everyone a copy. I also want to reread it next year in February and maybe I can write up coherent thoughts then. (Have a poem! Not from the book, but still: Courting Song for Selkies.)

Not feeling guilty about writing is awesome. <3

[jjhunter]

[...] My bed is too dry, my sheets
too bland; they want salting, sweet thing, they do.

Oh, that's strong and fierce and eery. Thanks for sharing it!

[lynnoconnacht]

You're welcome! ^-^ I'm glad you enjoyed it too. ^-^

[jjhunter]

I like the gender reversal, and the girl's unwillingness to back down. There's something terrible and powerful both in how much she puts her own self interest first - it really does give me the chills.

[lynnoconnacht]

*nods* If I recall there are a few traditional stories where the genders are reversed, but the choice isn't a common one by any means.

And it's creepy, isn't it? I think it's the more chilling because her self-interest is so much more fiercely present than in a lot of the tales I've read. It's a self-interest and selfishness that makes up part of the core of the tale as a whole, but it's usually more hidden. For me, part of the power of this poem is in how clearly it illustrates the self-interest of both the selkie in wanting zir skin back and the human for stealing it away in the first place.

[jjhunter]

And neither of them backing down even as the fundamental tension between their two positions is ever more baldly apparent. The flat 'no' at the end...*goosebumps*

[lynnoconnacht]

Exactly!

So often when I read a selkie tale, the selkie's desire to return home is always portrayed as a bad and selfish thing, but the human's cruelty and selfishness in taking the selkie away from zir home against zir's wishes gets, at best, ignored.

[alee_grrl]

I think you and jjhunter already captured most of my thoughts regarding this poem. It was certainly powerful and creepy, and the "no" at the end is heartbreaking. A fascinating twist on an old tale. Thanks for sharing. :)

[lynnoconnacht]

Quite welcome! I'm utterly delighted I found it.

[bookblather]

That was chilling to read. That stark "No," at the end, and the repeated "wasn't mine, is now" was just... wow.

[lynnoconnacht]

It's such a powerful statement at the end.