Hysteria
Poetry series
Inspired by the arcane and intricate functioning of the body, ‘Hysteria’ is a suite of poetry that investigates the human body in a lyrical form that can be perceived as both wondrous and macabre. The works also explores the supression of female voices within patriarchal institutions. The presentation design of the poems is a defining aspect of the final work. Two voices are represented on the page to showcase the disparities and disconnections between the female voice and the patriarchy. The left presents a female character and her story, poetic, intuitive, empathetic. On the right of the page sits the persona's autopsy report, specifically designed with distressed typographic font, which is scientific, factual, cold and skewed to male medical lens.
In the hands of gloved leeches
I lie with hands turned to the artificial sun,
On the antiseptic altar.
Surrendering the rotting insides of
my body, giving gifts to my many dissectors,
“A big breath” and
I disappear, five, four, three, two…
Will I dream in this perfect sleep?
I am inverted, unbalanced
In the hands of gloved leeches,
Skin split, a box of molten red,
muted mauve,
A velvet pink pouch displayed
sliced and excavated, piece by piece.
The howling animal shell, life giving membrane
Abandoned on the operating tray.
The abnormality, extracted and unravelled
placed as a little offering for another god
My organs rearranged,
crumpled, folded and stuffed back into place.
Nine Pints (after Angela Carter)
We are all heavy, organs soaked and bloated,
Nine pints full - in our stitched up vessel.
It swims amongst us, our lungs engulfed by it
a fountain of molten liquid.
She lay on the forest floor;
A nightmare cradled in moss,
Tangled amongst green blades,
A moonlit tableau of despair.
Did she fall from the sky?
Neck contorted, arms in rigor mortis,
Eyes absent, stolen from their chambers
By the greedy crows,
Only to leave, crimson stained tears.
She softened into her red cloak,
pooled and carmine stained -
The primordial life had ripened her.
Piece by piece under matted paws
The path like a parting of fur,
branches like a scapula bone
Hot, meaty breath
bites, digs it’s teeth in
There she lay on the forest floor;
uninterrupted, nine pints empty
uncoagulated, skin unfolded
Look closer, look closer!
Hardened brown mounds caked her milk skin
The shredded openings glimmers a deep red,
And a fading bestial stench,
summons the hungry insects
Humming in chorus, the scavengers celebrate her end.
Turning corpse to scattered cells.
Nine pints feeding the underworld,
awakening a fertile soil
— What intimate symbiosis.
Obstruction
She had let the city in,
black growth coating her tongue.
Shadowed and speechless
She cannot swallow,
She cannot spit it out
The grime lodged hard in her teeth.
Debris, dirt etched
into the pink walls of her mouth,
Carpeting her larynx.
She fights swords down
her choked, scratched throat,
Burning and hot, she
holds her mouth shut.
Voice stolen, sound muddied by mucous,
Falling into a black gaping hole.