Poetry Rec: Half-Hanged Mary
Hope you all are having a lovely weekend! I've had a deliciously lazy Saturday -- really could have taken a few minutes to do laundry or something useful, but oh well.
For anyone on my flist who's into poetry (or even for those who aren't), I'd like to humbly point you toward a pretty amazing poem that was posted this week on breathe_poetry.
"Half-Hanged Mary" is a Margaret Atwood poem based on the true story of Mary Webster, "who was accused of witchcraft in the 1680's in a Puritan town in Massachusetts and hanged from a tree -- where, according to one of the several surviving accounts, she was left all night. It is known that when she was cut down she was still alive, since she lived for another fourteen years." (bio courtesy of o_glorianna, who posted the poem)
It's as harrowing as you might imagine, given the premise, but there are also moments of dark humor and brilliant language -- well worth the read.
It's posted in several parts, which I've linked below. (For the record, the words after each part aren't official subtitles of the poem -- just a few lines I've pulled to give you a flavor of the language.)
Part One: Rumour was loose in the air / hunting for some neck to land on
Part Two: Does my twisting body spell out Grace?
Part Three: There is only one prayer
Part Four: my fists hold No
Part Five: At the end of my rope / I testify to silence
Part Six: My body of skin waxes and wanes
For anyone on my flist who's into poetry (or even for those who aren't), I'd like to humbly point you toward a pretty amazing poem that was posted this week on breathe_poetry.
"Half-Hanged Mary" is a Margaret Atwood poem based on the true story of Mary Webster, "who was accused of witchcraft in the 1680's in a Puritan town in Massachusetts and hanged from a tree -- where, according to one of the several surviving accounts, she was left all night. It is known that when she was cut down she was still alive, since she lived for another fourteen years." (bio courtesy of o_glorianna, who posted the poem)
It's as harrowing as you might imagine, given the premise, but there are also moments of dark humor and brilliant language -- well worth the read.
It's posted in several parts, which I've linked below. (For the record, the words after each part aren't official subtitles of the poem -- just a few lines I've pulled to give you a flavor of the language.)
Part One: Rumour was loose in the air / hunting for some neck to land on
Part Two: Does my twisting body spell out Grace?
Part Three: There is only one prayer
Part Four: my fists hold No
Part Five: At the end of my rope / I testify to silence
Part Six: My body of skin waxes and wanes