Poetry Friday: On Women’s Silence

One of my most treasured books is A Book of Women Poets From Antiquity to Now: Selections from the World Over as Edited by Aliki Barnstone and Willis Barnstone. I bought my own copy over ten years back and I turn to this book for consolation and respite during times of disquiet – and it has never failed me. I have not read the entire book yet, rather, I open it randomly to a page and allow the poem found there to speak to me. I also figured that this shall be my source of inspiration as we also celebrate our bimonthly theme on Girl Power and Women’s Wiles until the first week of May.

Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Mary Lee Hahn and Franki from A Year of Reading.

My worse-for-wear, battered, much-loved copy of the book.

Not surprisingly, I found it difficult to choose from such a stellar selection of poets since it contains selections ranging from Sumerian and Akkadian Poetry to Greek, Persian, Turkish, French, Portuguese, Japanese female poets – among others. This week, though, I am in the mood for women’s deafening silences. And so I share with you Bella Akhmadulina‘s Silence.

Akhmadulina in 1962, the year of her first collection, The String. Photograph: Malyshev/Ria Novosti/AFP/RIA Novosti - click on the image to be taken to the websource.

The great thing about this book is that it also includes a brief bio of the poets. Akhmadulina was born in Moscow of Tartar and Italian descent in 1937. She has just recently passed away on 29 November 2010. She attended the Gorky Institute of Literature – a school from which she was expelled. In the Obituary written about her by GS Smith as found in Guardian, she is described as such:

For more than 40 years, the poet Bella Akhmadulina, who has died aged 73, was a regal, even sainted presence on the Moscow literary scene. She was practically unique, because it was simply not done to speak ill of her, no matter what one’s position in official or unofficial hierarchies. She had an aura to which everyone deferred. (source here)

And so I share with you one of her poems that moved me greatly.

Silence

By Bella Akhmadulina

Who was it that took away my voice?

The black wound he left in my throat

Can’t even cry.

 

March is at work under the snow

And the birds of my throat are dead,

Their gardens turning into dictionaries.

 

I beg my lips to sing.

I beg the lips of the snowfall,

Of the cliff and the bush to sing.

 

Between my lips, the round shape

Of the air in my mouth.

Because I can say nothing.

 

I’ll try anything

For the trees in the snow.

I breathe. I swing my arms. I lie.

 

From this sudden silence,

Like death, that loved

The names of all words,

You raise me now in song.

Somehow, this poem reminded me of a favorite singer-songwriter, Tori Amos, as she sings Silent All these Years. Hope you enjoy the video clip:

Excuse me but can I be you for a while
My dog won’t bite if you sit real still
I got the anti-Christ in the kitchen yellin’ at me again
Yeah I can hear that
Been saved again by the garbage truck
I got something to say you know
But nothing comes
Yes I know what you think of me
You never shut-up
Yeah I can hear that

But what if I’m a mermaid 
In these jeans of his 
With her name still on it
Hey but I don’t care
Cause sometimes
I said sometimes
I hear my voice
And it’s been here
Silent All These Years

So you found a girl
Who thinks really deep thougts
What’s so amazing about really deep thoughts
Boy you best praya that I bleed real soon
How’s that thought for you
My scream got lost in a paper cup
You think there’s a heaven
Where some screams have gone
I got 25 bucks and a cracker
Do you think it’s enough
To get us there

Cause what if I’m a mermaid 
In these jeans of his 
With her name still on it
Hey but I don’t care
Cause sometimes
I said sometimes
I hear my voice
And it’s been here
Silent All These…

Years go by 
Will I still be waiting
For somebody else to understand
Years go by
If I’m stripped of my beauty
And the orange clouds
Raining in head
Years go by 
Will I choke on my tears
Till finally there is nothing left
One more casualty
You know we’re too easy Easy Easy

Well I love the way we communicate
Your eyes focus on my funny lip shape
Let’s hear what you think of me now
But baby don’t look up
The sky is falling
Your mother shows up in a nasty dress
It’s your turn now to stand where I stand
Everybody lookin’ at you here
Take hold of my hand
Yeah I can hear them

But what if I’m a mermaid 
In these jeans of his 
With her name still on it
Hey but I don’t care
Cause sometimes
I said sometimes
I hear my voice [x3]

And it’s been here
Silent All These Years
I’ve been here
Silent All These Years