Dropping Anchor
Shifting seas
Drifting aimlessly
Uncontrolled rudder
Moving where taken
Monsters subdued below in darkness
Quiet whilst dreaming of disobedience
Spotting the shore
Commanding the wheel
Steering towards safety
Monsters wake and cause a storm
Keep going or drop anchor
(C) T. Altman 2016
I went and saw Gloria Steinem speak last month about her autobiographical new book “My Life on the Road” and she was phenomenally inspirational!
Gloria is someone I aspire to live my life like (speaking up and living her life according to her own rules) and these were some of her quotes which resonated with me that night:
“WE are the women our parents warned us about.”
“Not everyone has to live the same way. Imagine that.”
“We are not crazy. The system is crazy.”
“Racism and sexism might both be supremacist crimes, because you get nothing out of it but dominance.”
“The single greatest failing of feminism is that we’ve been too nice.”
Gloria Steinem – May 16th 2016, Melbourne Australia
Thanks to the required reading in year 8 English for introducing me to science-fiction through Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”. It was the first novel which made me think outside the lacking literature which was around me at the time and made me delve deeper into the genre which I found fascinating.
Thanks also to JG for introducing me to sci-fantasy in my early 20’s through Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts “Empire Trilogy”. This imaginative genre has definitely inspired my creativity and is one I am drawn to.
These two avenues of discovering new genres changed the way I read and write and for that I am thankful.
Shared the following poem by Poe with a fellow creative and it touched her so much it brought tears to her eyes.
I wanted to share with her how succinctly Poe described feeling detached and separate from the world.
Its always been a favorite of mine as Poe was my first literary love and the first writer I became obsessed with. He wooed me with his words of romantic melancholy and showed me that the written word could evoke multitudes of emotions.
“Alone”
I’ve been writing lots of poetry in recent months due to being inspired by people and the world around me. Things which have been bubbling to the surface and needing to breathe, have forced its way out.
April is poetry month and I have been actively participating in the Dirty Thirty (one poem every day for 30 days in April).
Truth be told, most of my work has been filled with profanities but this one was written whilst contemplating my parents and is one I would like to share with you:
Imperishable Stars
Imperishable Stars
Never to rise nor set
Your luminous hearts fixed
Watching in abject silence
Epithets eternally emblazoned
Within and upon your earthly kin
Eternally through the promised premise
Incandescent in dogging darkness
(C) T. Altman 2016
I will not self-edit… not for anyone or anything.
If my words displease you, its not my burden to carry but your own.
In some respects, at least I managed to bring up some kind of emotive response.
Perusing my pages, looking for signs and omens of what has been or will be.
Clues perceived between the lines is your own hypothesis.
What is conveyed and understood is your own perception.
That is what expression is and its my unapologetic art form.
T. Altman 2016
One of the first female poets I came across as a teen whom I connected with deeply was Maya Angelou. Her words spoke to me then and they speak to me now….
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
by Maya Angelou
Its taken a while but I have learned to separate the art from the artist. When it comes to artist’s work – its not about you and your perceptions of the creator but the work itself.
I used to project all my expectations on artists due to how I perceived them through their work, which ultimately they didn’t live up to because humans are fallible and not perfect (same goes for the rest of us).
I’m making this in reference to some of my favourite writers whose life choices, behaviours and personal feelings I do not agree with yet their artistry speaks to me.
For eg. Lord Byron, a chronicled misogynist whose poems touch me, yet as a feminist his behaviour and comments towards women…not so much!
So next time you judge someone’s work because of their character – step back and separate yourself from it. View it from a completely neutral perspective and who knows? You might like it!
tinaaltman.com 