By Adrienne Su
https://annasuki.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/sus-female-infanticide/ So we are taking a short departure from the mysterious, dark world of Cruz, and plunging into another world, equally disturbing and dark, that is, the world of Adrienne Su. Although still dark, this poem is a different type of dark, not one that can be construed meaning, but one that has a definite meaning that applies and brings light to the world today. Please be prepared. I’m going to start with the title because it is an immediate attention grabber. Infanticide is the intentional killing of infants and with the word female there, we are talking about baby girls here. Female infanticide is a depressing and creepy concept in of itself, but the rest of the title is more so. “A Guide for Mothers” suggests that this poem is a how-to, an instruction manual for how to kill off your baby girls. Let’s see how this develops further. The first line, “in order of expediency.” This suggests a list, a list that goes from top to bottom an order of what you should try, the most urgent first. “Try this method first before moving on” a message that screams out almost like an advertisement. The first line relates the remaining structure of the poem, it is almost like an outline, with Roman numerals detailing each item of the list. Instead of detailing each list item, line by line, I grouped them into similar parts or actions, or at least, what I viewed as similar. Item #1 is pre-birth of the child. First get an “ultrasound” to determine the gender of the child. We wouldn’t want to kill off a precious baby boy, now would we? After determining that the child is indeed a girl, the next item on the agenda is get an abortion. Stop the child before it’s even born, to save time, money, and resources. It is urgent that you cut off the child at its earliest stage, because a born child is so much more difficult to get rid of than a fetus. Items #2-4. Now that the child is born, what are you going to do with it? “Drowning; asphyxiation,” both quiet, relatively clean methods of disposing of a child. Quick and simple as well, they require no specialized equipment. “Hilltop abandonment,” like literally just leave the child, let it get taken in by the odd kind stranger or eaten by wolves. Doesn’t matter because the girl is no longer your problem. “Automobile accident,” stage something, an accident absolves you of responsibilities because well, it was an accident. No responsibility, no girl burden, everything is good. All of these items take place after the child is born, but they all require effort of the parent. Something has to happen in order for these list items to take place. Items #5-6. Now, if everything previously listed fails, literally give up. “Failure to immunize,” “ill nutrition,” “lack of activity,” and “inattention,” all come about from ignoring the child. Just ignore the child until it dies. Don’t vaccinate it, so it contracts some deadly disease. Don’t feed it, so it dies. It’s plain and simple, act as if that unwanted child was just not there. The only problem I foresee with these list items and a possible explanation of why something so simple would be further down on the list is that these actions (or inactions) are public. Someone is bound to notice that this child is starving, particularly if there are siblings in the household. Killing off girls is a well-known, but secret thing. The rest of the poem brings us back to effort being put back into the killing again. There is the idea of abandonment again, but this time to relatives, however unknown they may be. You could flat out leave the kid behind on a vacation. “Oops, it was just a mistake.” There’s that idea of accidental again. The paradox of the accepted notion of killing off girl children, but the clandestine way in which it must be carried out. In Item IX, the underlying idea of boys are more valuable than girls is brought to the forefront. This idea was understood throughout the poem, but not expressed until now. With a son, comes fortune and security, so now you can just put that useless girl up for adoption, no one will miss her. Item X is interesting and receives a full two lines instead of the customary one. Pull of this massive scandal and then leave it to her to kill herself (smart) or simply just vanish, grabbing that idea once more of exploring ways that absolve the parent of responsibility. Item XI raises the brother question again and illustrates the idea of girls being subservient to boys by suggesting you just use her as a servant to the all revered boy, but if that fails, marry her off. Then she can be a servant to her husband. Yay! Exciting! Note that it is the parent’s convenience, not the child’s, suggesting a society where marriages are not for love, but for gain. Item XII is what you should do if all else preceding this fails. Now that you’re stuck with this girl, keep her single. The talk of “psychological torture” implies that you will make this girl feel unattractive and unwanted, so that no one will want her, then use her for your own gain, most likely as a servant to care for you in your old age. This poem is depressing, it’s explicit, and it’s definitely cryptic. There is not much description, but not much is needed. Images appear in my brain, sad one. As the poem progresses, it shows the age in the girl. The girl gets older and older and to me the list items become sadder and sadder. Yes, the most murderous ones are at the top of the list, but they talk of when the girl is young, and not been able to have experiences in this world. She doesn’t know that she isn’t wanted. As she grows older, the methods turn to abandonment and disguise. The girl has to face the reality that she isn’t wanted and she has no control over what happens to her, she’ll either unwillingly become the servant of her own brother, an unwanted husband who will practically be a stranger, or her own parents. All of the list items yield sad fates, but the later ones are made sadder by understanding. I immediately thought about China, where female infanticide was a common practice until the early 2000s. It turns out that many countries participate in female infanticide because boy are much more useful to have around. While current female infanticide is not as drastic as it was expressed in this poem, many mothers, especially in rapid growth and densely populated areas, will abort their female children, with preference for males. It’s sad to think that in this “modern” day and age, such gender imbalance still occurs. Su captured that harsh world, the one we don’t like to think about and brought it to the bright light of day, where we can take action and do something about it. Nothing will change if nobody cares.
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“Guidebooks for the Dead” by Cynthia Cruz
http://www.mudcityjournal.com/cynthia-cruz/ This poem is weird. Yes, I know all of these poems I have explored have been exceedingly strange, but this one is a different weird. When exploring the expansive, never ending internet, I stumbled upon many different poems written by Cynthia Cruz all titled, “Guidebooks for the Dead” so in the link today’s poem is the last selection titled that. Alright, with all that business out of the way, let’s tunnel into this next beautiful, dark creation of Cynthia Cruz. Okay, starting from the top. “Guidebooks for the Dead,” more than one, perhaps this alludes to why multiple poems are titled this. Perhaps each poem possessing this title is another edition, providing advice for people stuck in between the world of the living and the dead, a world that is explored rather frequently by Ms. Cruz. Keeping this idea of advice for the in between in mind, let’s discuss this first line. “I pull the bell on the string at the gate.” That’s longer than Cruz’s typical opening line, although it is no more revealing. The subject/speaker of the poem is directly involved, he/she is the one performing the actions, the one who is trapped in the betweens. The speaker is pulling a bell, essentially ringing a doorbell (or in this case a gatebell), but to what? I immediately conjured up both vivid images of the pearly, glorious gates of heaven, and the fiery, twisted gates of hell. Either way could cause the subject to feel some sort of nervousness regarding her fate. The next line clarifies the image, “Then all the demons came.” Now the fiery, twisted, black gates of hell appear before me with demons pouring out of them, threatening me. For some reason, I feel that the speaker is young, maybe even a child. The language is simple and evokes that feeling for me. Lines 3 and 4, “Where is the coat/God gave me:” further cement two ideas to me. One, that the speaker is young or at least naive in their way of thinking, and two, he/she is scared/nervous. The subject automatically moves towards thinking of something that will protect them against the onslaught of demons. They turn to God, and as God gifted them this coat, it seems that perhaps they were not destined to go to hell. That is why the demons arriving produces such an instinctual reaction in the speaker. He/she was expecting something else. The naiveness of the speaker is apparent again with the simplicity of their request. They do not blame anyone else for wrongdoings, but search for that protection of something bigger than themselves, in this case God. If we view God as the supreme father figure, it all clicks into place. He will be the protector of those experiencing hell. “Long and mink/And to save me” follow the request and describe this mystical coat of protection, the ever important gift from God. It occurred to me this is the second time in a row, I have experienced the use of a mink coat (check out “Erstling if you wish to see the first) in one of Ms. Cruz’s wonderful works. Again, mink coats are expensive, luxurious accessories that fall way out of line with the poverty and desolation present in Cruz’s life and works. It would make sense that God would give an elegant, expensive gift, but this mink coat is protection from the demons as well. Why? Why? Why? I hear this burning question reverberating through my head. Why is the mink associated with protection, with salvation? The thought that came to mind deals with disguise. The mink coat disguises the speaker as a rich, extravagant human being, one too worthy to be sent to the pits of hell. The demons come for those who are too poor to be able to go to heaven, so, with the aid of this mink coat, God saves one. But alas, he/she cannot be saved because she cannot find this glorious gift. [cue dramatic shift] In the upcoming lines, we get to experience the true glory of Ms. Cruz work, that is, her ability to tie snapshots together into a “cohesive” story. We leave that speaker in front of a gate surrounded by demons for a moment as we transition to the next two lines. “Under the blue awning/Of the shelter in the rain.” These lines are much more calming than hell and present imagery that is peaceful by bringing the color blue into play. It is raining outside, another contrast to the fires of hell, and the speaker is seeking shelter an awning, a covering. This could be construed as another sort of disguise or a hiding place. Hiding from their true fate perhaps? Trying to change their destiny? If we zoom out further in our view, this awning, this hiding place is “Beneath the shadow/Of the cathedral.” I would like to call attention the fact it is not “a cathedral,” but rather “the cathedral.” It means that this is someplace specific, that not just any old cathedral would fit the speaker’s needs, but this particular cathedral is important. The idea of a cathedral contributes to the overarching religious tone as well. As we are standing the shadow of one, it is like the cathedral dominated the speaker’s life. It influenced their actions, which may be why they were so nervous standing at those gates because they knew their significance. They knew what could be in store for them. Perhaps this drastic shift represents the speaker running away from those gates because they know how that journey ends (with hell), so now they are looking back searching for what went wrong and trying to fix it frantically before the demons catch up. Continuing on that train of thought, it is time to reveal the following lines. “I’m riding the same train/As my father now.” Surprise, surprise, I refuse to follow any literal thought processes, so the train mentioned is not an actual train. I took it to mean path, as in path of living. Combining that idea with the familial connection expressed by bringing the subject’s father into the poem, I have this understanding that the speaker is trying to emulate their father. To be like him. By including the word “now,” it implies that this was not always the case. The speaker is now trying to fix their mistakes to live as a replica, one could say, of their father. Bringing back the religious domination in this subject’s life, it is highly likely that their parents contributed to this, so it follows that the speaker’s father would be religious and perhaps now, seeing the consequences of their life, the speaker wishes to be as well. The poem closes with two more lines, “And how I love/The white hiss of prayer and magic.” Upon reading these lines, I felt an immediate sense of catharsis. The emotions and suspense of the preceding lines held me captive and the last two lines provide liberation. The speaker is loving something, a contrast from that life in hell she would have spent if something had not changed. What does he/she love? This odd description of “the white hiss of prayer and magic.” Now, white could represent two different things. One could be softness or quietness, as in a background of prayer and magic, an underlying lull, something not audibly heard but always present. A force that directs that person down their chosen path of life. The other could be an actual reference to skin color. Religions possessing cathedrals are Eurocentric, such as Catholicism and Protestantism. Thus, the teachings from within would be white in nature. I favor a duality of the two ideas presented. There is that lull, the new course by which the speaker will live her life in pursuit of her father, and in this case it is quite a “white” religion. Now let’s step back and take a look at the poem as a whole. Looking back, I wonder if there were two gates at all. Perhaps that gate represented both the gates of heaven and hell. When you approach those gates, you must ring a bell. Based on your decisions in life, that bell reveals demons or perhaps angels if you are righteous. In this beautifully crafted poem, demons are revealed. This does not lend itself to be the speaker’s final destiny though. He/she is not condemned immediately to hell. It’s as though it is a wakeup call for the speaker and all of a sudden, they are put on that path towards a better life perhaps, following the footsteps of their father. We can each take this as an example. We will never be literally standing at that ambiguous gate, but there are moments in our life that we can liken unto that. Find those moments and define your positions in life. Take a look at yourself, perform a self evaluation, discover what needs to be changed. You have the power to direct your path in whatever way you can possibly imagine. It may be tough, but in the end you will become a better version of you. |
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