They speak of us as corruptible.
Mark us as unflattering.
Think of us, idealised.
Blind to the rest.
To the heart that we carry.
Their eyes are depreciative.
They are masters of distortion.
For one night.
Their soul is a locked gate.
The bathroom shut down.
We have access to one room.
They bathe us in wine and lullabies.
Man Maternal.
Their tongues err around our bodies.
The effort is lost, unknown.
Money paid well.
It’s not a portrait, it’s a landscape, a mural, stretching infinitely.
They turn the page, twisting the paper in case they liked it.
They infiltrate their narratives.
Ridding them of their voices.
Manifesting them as they see them, experience them.
And what does one learn in one night?
How many words can one speak in one night?
Hope is something they all had.
And then the light came in and they realised
That without them, the room is still dark.
“Self-portrait” by Alice Pike Barney (1857-1931)
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My name is Laura Gentile. I’m of German-Italian descent and I speak five languages such as English, German, French, Italian, Luxembourgish and I’m currently learning Romanian.
I hold a Master of Arts Degree in English Literature, Film and Visual Culture (Dissertation: The Decadent in Love with his Psychopomp: Thomas Mann's 'Death in Venice' and Adrian Lyne's 'Lolita') and a Master of Letters by Research in English Literature, Film and Visual Culture (Thesis: Romanticising Decadence and Aestheticising Death: Women as Projection Bodies and Mimetic Identities in Zola’s 'Thérèse Raquin', Schnitzler’s 'Dream Story', Süskind’s 'Perfume: The Story of a Murderer' and Eugenides’ 'The Virgin Suicides').
My debut novel, 'Within Paravent Walls', will be published by WiDo Publishing / E. L. Marker.
I am the creator of "Croque-Melpomene: Femalecentric Poetry" and I have a YouTube channel carrying the same name.
Find me here:
YouTube: Croque-Melpomene
Twitter: lauragentile13
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Contact Email Address: croquemelpomene@gmail.com
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