Go to Blood on the Page - the Poetry of Chris Cavanova
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While it makes me angry and heartbroken that such things happen
I thought your poem was excellent.
posted by
FactorFiction
on October 11, 2006 at 5:59 AM
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Challenging stuff, Kevin. Well written.
posted by
_dave_says_ack_
on September 28, 2006 at 2:12 AM
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The song form is moving and powerful as well. God Bless Kevin.
posted by
Lucinda_Price
on September 20, 2006 at 10:47 AM
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Sad. Well-written. Death of the spirit sometimes precedes the physical,
and, for this, so much potential is lost.
posted by
saul_relative
on September 20, 2006 at 10:35 AM
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Amen.
posted by
Kevin_Lauer
on September 19, 2006 at 4:21 PM
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Thanks for sharing your experience.
it is yours, and no one can argue with how you experience or remember things. It is very personal, and it is interesting to see how the mind works. Some parts of my life have been blotted out of my memory, for no particular reason. That's the way the mind works.
I am glad the poem is fictional in parts, but all the same abuse is a sad reality, and we should be outraged about it, as long as we don't stoop to their level, and resort to violence or revenge which is a natural reaction, but not desirable of course.
posted by
marieclaire66
on September 19, 2006 at 3:20 PM
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No, my friend did not take her life. The poem was not written specifically about her case, but rather about two different fictional cases inspired by her case. I changed much of the details in order to protect her identity. But this does not diminish the horror of knowing that there are those who have taken their lives because of the evil inflicted upon them.
Regarding the childhood memories, I actually have memories of the house my parents lived in when I was an infant. We moved before I was a year old, but I vividly remember the pastel wallpaper, the stairs up to the second floor, and the old piano that sat in the hallway. It amazed my mother when I described the house to her, since I hadn't seen any photographs of the house nor been in it since we'd moved. Perhaps not quite the same thing as remembering aspects of your actual birth, but that's my experience.
posted by
Kevin_Lauer
on September 19, 2006 at 2:08 PM
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About my "birth" poem, no need to be spellbound, this is only a vague recollection of my own birth, back in the days when I dabbled with rebirthing, (don't try this at home! it is kind of weird and bordering on dangerous). So my memories were probably influenced by the fact that I knew that my mother was depressed around the time of my birth, may be I made it all up. It is not terribly reliable information, but the impressions and feelings were very vivid and felt very real, but again, what feels real may not be necessarily true. I take it all with a pinch of salt. I do believe you can remember stuff. I have other memories, one of my father holding me as a baby, as a newborn, I felt his hand, right across my back, the feel of soft cotton blue flannelette shirt on my face, and feeling safe and content. This I believe to be true. A child's memory is usually non-verbal, full of texture colours, close up of details you would normally miss as adult. It is quite fascinating. Sense of touch and smell, are the memories that get stored in the body forever until you accidentally tap into them. I can sometimes willingly go "there" and to a certain extent you can travel in the past, but there is a knack to it, and you must not force the process. At the end of the day though, you need to let God oversee the whole process, and pray that he reveals only the truth and what you need to know, in those areas, it is so easy to be deceived I think. I have other stuff, that I supposedly remember, but I am skeptical, because it is too horrifying to be true, either I have a very good imagination, or I am in denial, so I am still trying to work that one out. It is a long story, and I cannot expand on it here, and when it is resolved, I might share it one day, may be. So retrieved memories are a grey and tricky area where one should tread with caution, and no, I would not go so far as remembering past lives, it goes against my faith, altough I have dabbled in that one too, well I tried many things that sidetracked me and did not do me any good. Hope I learnt my lesson here. So that is my story, a glimpse of it anyway. Hope all is well on the home front and otherwise. Bye for now.
posted by
marieclaire66
on September 19, 2006 at 1:34 PM
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this is such a chilling tale, it makes me feel physically sick.
Did the girl really take her life??? What happened to the bas...who did this! It is truly sickening, and the way you twisted the words, that were meant to be sacred and beautiful, you portrayed the perversity of the action all too well. Unfortunately, it happens, all too often.
posted by
marieclaire66
on September 19, 2006 at 12:54 PM
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I wrote this one while dealing with the new knowledge that one of my loved-ones had been sexually abused by somebody she'd trusted. Although she had found the strength to forgive him and put it behind her, I felt more hatred for him than I'd ever felt before. Writing this helped me deal with that hatred and, although I would still probably punch him if I ran into him on the street, I don't think I would stick a knife in his gut.
posted by
Kevin_Lauer
on September 19, 2006 at 7:57 AM
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