酷我-北美枫

[anna]

Spelling by Margaret Atwood


My daughter plays on the floor
with plastic letters,
red, blue & hard yellow,
learning how to spell,
spelling,
how to make spells.

I wonder how many women
denied themselves daughters,
closed themselves in rooms,
drew the curtains
so they could mainline words.

A child is not a poem,
a poem is not a child.
there is no either/or.
However.

I return to the story
of the woman caught in the war
& in labour, her thighs tied
together by the enemy
so she could not give birth.

Ancestress: the burning witch,
her mouth covered by leather
to strangle words.

A word after a word
after a word is power.

At the point where language falls away
from the hot bones, at the point
where the rock breaks open and darkness
flows out of it like blood, at
the melting point of granite
when the bones know
they are hollow & the word
splits & doubles & speaks
the truth & the body
itself becomes a mouth.

This is a metaphor.

How do you learn to spell?
Blood, sky & the sun,
your own name first,
your first naming, your first name,
your first word.

Margaret Atwood
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

Spelling by Margaret Atwood


My daughter plays on the floor
with plastic letters,
red, blue & hard yellow,
learning how to spell,
spelling,
how to make spells.

I wonder how many women
denied themselves daughters,
closed themselves in rooms,
drew the curtains
so they could mainline words.

A child is not a poem,
a poem is not a child.
there is no either/or.
However.

I return to the story
of the woman caught in the war
& in labour, her thighs tied
together by the enemy
so she could not give birth.

Ancestress: the burning witch,
her mouth covered by leather
to strangle words.

A word after a word
after a word is power.

At the point where language falls away
from the hot bones, at the point
where the rock breaks open and darkness
flows out of it like blood, at
the melting point of granite
when the bones know
they are hollow & the word
splits & doubles & speaks
the truth & the body
itself becomes a mouth.

This is a metaphor.

How do you learn to spell?
Blood, sky & the sun,
your own name first,
your first naming, your first name,
your first word.

Margaret Atwood
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[anna]

I asked Paul how to read this, here is his comments.

Margaret Atwood is a literary giant, a feminist with a very personal voice
speaking about life, romance and erotica. I am interested in reading more
of her work.

In "Spell", she is playing with the word itself, with its variations;
creating sense, mood and magic. She is fascinated by her daughter's
encounter with the world of letters and words.

I read that Atwood's ancestress was literally burnt at the stake as a
"witch". Yet, "This is a metaphor", she says in the poem, evoking the
mystery of the "real" and the "unreal", the miracle of duration, existence
and metamorphosis.

(I guess I still need to discuss more with him about this poem)
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[[星子安娜]]

I asked Paul how to read this, here is his comments.

Margaret Atwood is a literary giant, a feminist with a very personal voice
speaking about life, romance and erotica. I am interested in reading more
of her work.

In "Spell", she is playing with the word itself, with its variations;
creating sense, mood and magic. She is fascinated by her daughter's
encounter with the world of letters and words.

I read that Atwood's ancestress was literally burnt at the stake as a
"witch". Yet, "This is a metaphor", she says in the poem, evoking the
mystery of the "real" and the "unreal", the miracle of duration, existence
and metamorphosis.

(I guess I still need to discuss more with him about this poem)
_________________
---------------------

Anna Yin

《爱的灯塔-星子安娜双语诗选》
<Nightlights> <Seven Nights with the Chinese Zodiac> ...

http://annapoetry.com

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]

[fanfan]

[[FFFFFF]]

[星子]

I am confused why

many women
denied themselves daughters,

A child is not a poem,
a poem is not a child.
there is no either/or.
However.

---- still a lot questions.
_________________

[[ANNA]]

I am confused why

many women
denied themselves daughters,

A child is not a poem,
a poem is not a child.
there is no either/or.
However.

---- still a lot questions.
_________________