The Wolves of Midwinter

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

"Die Like A Girl":A Sardonic ,Inverse Version of "Fight Like a Girl"




                 


Inspired by both Emilie Autumn's "Fight Like a Girl," and her commentary on the brutish sexism of Pre-Raphealite paintings. As a form of pure hypocrisy  I happen to have the painting of the "Lady of Shalott," serving as my undignified computer wallpaper. Given the below criticism, should I hide my head in shame? 
Die Like a Girl 


Come one, Come all
                   To the greatest theatrical show-
                   Invented by the demented minds of a true Opheliac
                   Tinkered by misery
                   Powered by Sadism and self-destruction
                    Appropriating the themes of Woebegone Mistresses
                 
                    Plummeting to the depths
              Or should I say-their deaths?  
In appropriately vibrant-colored Pre-Raphealite  paintings
                    Filled with Verdant Leaves and variegated flowers
                     Suffused with the brimming life
         Of traditional pastoral poems
                   
 As each of these victorian girls pant
                    Their dying breaths
                 -ACCEPT NO IMITATIONS-
                 Die the royal, honorable way
                  Of a Wayward Victiorian Girl
           

   We have inimitable imitations of the Lady of Shalott
  Sinking herself in a boat with her artistic work
   Wrapped about her wan body-her majestic cloak
    Meticulously worked by her pallid, lifeless hands
      She envisioned knights, courtiers,
 Kings, queens, cherubic-faced children
      Graciously attending her funeral proceedings
     This was her moribund stunt-
DEATH OF ANONYMITY-
 The Demise of an unnamed female artist
       

   Unparalleled by other artistic equals
   It is the shrewd mind of the gentry folk that conceived her pathetic
   Death as beautiful and aesthetically-pleasing
    Her befallen fate graces the walls of pretentious English professors offices
     Within and Without the world of academia
     
To die like her is to truly hate your female persona
And prize the male appreciation of your anonymous work
Above all else
Mask your art with the persona of a dainty "George Elliot"
Or an unassuming Curtier Bell
Never boast your real artistic, audacious alias of
 Such strong, sturdy women like Mary Shelley
Who would read the "Lady of Shalott" in a playful, nondefeating tone-
One used by a fine woman by the name of Anne Shirley


Do you feel spurned by men?
Come watch and gaze upon Ophelia
In this scene, she  recites poetry
Using a  semidetached tone to woo Hamlet one last time
WEAKNESS-A faint woman on the brink of slipping
An empty vessel that falls into strong currents of water
If unable to appease the interests of other men

Victorian men sigh and swoon
Conjuring up erotic portraits of such a fine damsel
Tragically falling to her death
The First Suicidal Girl
Spurned, Misunderstood repeatedly by
The historical romanticism surrounding
A grisly, visceral scene of
Self-destruction
Yet it's so artful, so genuinely Shakespearean
Let us appraise a woman's misery with
Unconcerned eyes of artistic awe

I say- Never shall any of these damsels
View any tangible life beyond their
Tragic Objective of death
Look upon the Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Juliet, and the Lady of Shalott
With pure,unadulterated shame
If all we see is poetry, we have never learned
About what it really means to "fight like a girl"
Which we have misconstrued to be
"Die Like a Girl"
The asylum's legendary spectacle
Of doom and gloom ad infinitum



   
                       
                                             

What will I forget?

 What will I forget? (The Inverse, Poetic Version  of Emilie Autumn’s “What Will Remember?)

               Having never woken up at 4pm again,,, I sleep into perpetuity
              My dreams write this poem
               Forgotten, detached Lullabies
Smeared like blood against the walls of my dying dreams
             I’m still thinking, I’m still dreaming
               Am I still alive?

          There’s the vanishing
bleep of life-support
          Trying to support something dying is truly
        A complete waste of an endeavor
        It reverberates through my mind-
      The beautiful tinkling of a phantom noise
       
Beep, Beep, Beep-
     
My disappearing act is summed up in one
      Clangorous , monosyllabic
      
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

      
I’m still here though
    Hearing the beep nevermore
    No everlasting beep
   To Furnish the silence of the dead
    What will I remember?
     What have I forgotten?
                        
  As the dream of my dying thoughts vanish
 There’s no more................
 Not even a prayer...........  No AMEN to finalize this ineloquent pause
Before the great God of the medical machine                         Issues one last prayerful BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP

Sunday, April 14, 2013

A Ripple in Time Promo Blitz



ARIT COVER FINAL
   
Title: A Ripple In Time
 Author: Julia Huges
 Book Description: One hundred years after she sunk, the Titanic has a new love story. Wren awakes in a present day in which World War 1 never ended, and the alternative him died as a child. Somehow, his nightmares entered the consciousness of Carina, a girl on board the Titanic. Using Wren's knowledge, she has been able to avert the tragedy, so creating a ripple in time. With the help of Carina's descendant, Carrie, Wren must find a way to go back and restore the time line. If he does, the lives of those aboard the vessel will be lost, and the love of his life will never be born. Will he be able to save the present, or is history as we know it, doomed?
 A Ripple in Time by Julia Hughes FREE to download from April 14 – April 18: Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.


About The Author


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 The London born author of the Celtic Cousins’ Adventures: A Raucous Time; A Ripple in Time; and An Explosive Time. The Bridle Path, and her latest title is a young adult/crossover action adventure: The Griffin Cryer. “I’m an eldest child and walking my younger brother and sister to school and back, I’d tell them stories – a captive audience! On leaving college, I worked at the BBC, helping write stories for their “Schools’ Programmes”. That was back in the day, before satellite telly made it over to the UK and ‘Auntie Beeb’ ruled the air waves! I gave it all up for the good life, and moved down to Cornwall, one of the most beautiful counties in England, and often known as ‘God’s own country.’ I think the greatest compliment I received was ‘Julia’s more Cornish than the Cornish.’ I picked daffodils in winter and made pasties for the holidaymakers in the summer. But all good things come to an end: I upped sticks to be closer to my family, and landed in a little village just outside London, and have been here ever since, scribbling away at my stories. ” I don’t specifically write in any one genre, an idea will flitter into my mind, and the story develops. My first three titles, “A Raucous Time”, “A Ripple in Time” and “An Explosive Time” are action adventures, while “The Bridle Path” is romance. I think I’d overdosed on the testosterone flying around in the previous three books and wanted something a little more feminine and romantic. My latest title “The Griffin Cryer” is an adventure/fantasy. What makes this genre special is the opportunity to really allow imagination to take flight, and even create whole new worlds for readers to explore.


Author Links
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Friday, April 05, 2013

Blog Hiatus for April

   

   Right now, I'm working under the gun on my senior thesis, which fittingly revolves around Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. For that reason, I haven't been able to post any real reviews for the last few weeks, and the interminable pace of updates will continue for the whole of April. This thesis is slowly invading my subconscious, and it will be next to impossible to review anything with so much of my energy concentrated on this one painstaking task.

    Things will be back to normal in May!!