i cannot imagine how you ever came to be called a ball of string..... but
what you have made of this opportunity of being angry is not only superbly presented in your new UTube format, but also exceedingly clever in the way that you have interwoven history and mythology both metaphorically and materially to support your argument.
i love knots.
the inca empire would most certainly have been glad to have had a quipu such as you!
i wonder if you used this fact to benefit your case, or if you dissipated your energy in your poetry (?)
whatever, a quipu was such a vital part of civilisation in s america that you would have been regarded with the highest respect. i wonder how your boyfriend would cope just thinking of you being revered and understood [and later interpreted to others ] in the hands of the Quipucamayocs?
this symbolism makes me smile a great deal as it elevated you from a ball of string into one of the most powerful and valuable artefacts of the ancient world.
i also love the way that you have weaved the thread of your images, as real thread would be woven through history and fairy tales. we are never far from the warp, the weft and the spindle. i love this continuity throughout the entire piece.
i love the way you allow us to view the mythology too.
mostly we hear things from odysseus' angle... i mean .. 'wow wasn't he a hero, fighting off sirens and shacking up with circe for a whole year (not to forget that he also impregnated her), allowing six of his men to be fed to scylla and worse while he took his time to get back to his long suffering wife!' .... quite a man (!)
i like the way that you see things from penelope's perspective (since you, with your sore fingers, are acting out her part) of undoing the day's weaving of the shroud on her loom so that she never finishes her task and therefore does not have to make her mind up. she sounds thoroughly fed up, as any one of us women might when we forget the good part of a relationship when we are tired of being patronised or irritated by some minor personal habit. so much so that we just want a bit of peace and quiet.. or light relief. [or even to win our argument] we need to be careful not to wish too hard, just in case we get what we ask for! [ i say this because your boyfriend is most probably absolutely wonderful 99.99% of the time, if not 100%]
all in all, i thought this was brilliantly conceived and the novelty of having your thoughts presented within a framework of carefully chosen pictures and music meant that more than more senses could be stimulated.
I enjoyed lingering here very much indeed.
These three strings are walking along, dying of thirst in the middle of Death Valley. After a long, long trek. They come to a bar.
"Boy, this is just in time...I can't go any farther." So he walks into the bar and orders a drink.
"Can't you read the sign there? We don't serve no strings here" bellows the bartender.
"But I'm going to die of thirst" protests the string.
With that the bartender picks him up, and throws him out into the street.
One of his buddies says "I'll disguise myself as a rope and go in to get us a drink." So, in he goes.
"Hey, I thought I told your friend that we don't serve your kind here. Now get out that door before I stomp on you!" So he quickly retreats out the door.
Finally the last string says "Hey, I've got an idea...I'll tie myself up like a pretzel, and frizzle out my ends, so he won't recognize me." So in he goes into the bar. He gets up to the bar and orders a drink.
The bartender eyes him a little suspiciously. "Hey, aren't you one of those strings I told to get out of here?"
To which the string answered "No, I'm a frayed knot."
Well. you DID say “nonsensical” remarks-----
But I did like this for all the mythological allusions woven through here. [Inca quipu, Gordian knot, Gorgon, Penelope and Odysseus and the suggestion of the Three Fates who spin and weave each person’s life and decide that span with a snip of the shears.
“ Every knot has a name.
Each strand separate, but braided to the next”
Those opening lines remind me of Indra’s Net and similary the Web of Life.There is Brier Rose and her century of sleep. awaiting a wakening. There is the suggestion of religious allegory also with the mention of the scriptures and the penalty of death handed down in Eden.
Death references weave their way through much of this piece too, and especially death and destruction of the meaningless type. I really liked the last lines of the S3; “Spent of wish and dread,
It would lie inanimate
Too late, you could point to its meaning
What is lost is its worth”
I loved the inherent symbolism in the recurring imagery of spinning and weaving. One favorite was
“ See how the spindle darts
Like a silver fish,
There is a strong feminine perspective here, with heroines, goddesses, and majickal lore juxtapositioned in a seemingly disconnected rant, yet when taken as a whole the reader senses the strength and conviction that fuels that anger, as well as the wisdom that holds it at bay.
I liked the italicized interjections at intervals that demand one stop-------- think –and go on. Like roadside warnings to slow down, observe and be aware of danger.
Things that go bump in the night’
The last stanza is very dark, and I confess to not really grasping the meaning of the song, “ “Widowed. Widowed. Widowed.” However it is effective in evoking a strong conclusion, for I found myself taking a deep breath after the last stop.
Then I re-read it.
And enjoyed it even more.
Sally
WOW....... This piece has some pretty deep action in it. I love the sybolism and the rythme is almost superb. I think that life Is a pain in the ass anyway. I kinda felt like this peice when I broke up with my ex. I feel the additude in this peice also. I think that this peice should of Put more anger in it and it would have been better.
Submission Name: Witch's Knot c. by ruejacobs 12/10/08 2 A.M.
