I stand in my own way all the time.
I think that I am a certain way,
But act and think in another.
I can only see so far.
Everything irritates me,
Craving to float above them all.
But I’ll wrestle my way through the
Disregarding masses and talk to
Myself, huff and puff, and act in a way
That I’ve found repulsive since being a child.
It is too much, standing in a sea of egos.
Bubble against bubble, needles left and right.
I wear a dress made out of heavy grey clouds.
It has a trail, dragging me back to yesteryears.
It envelops my head and closes my eyes to who
I really am. It can suffocate an entire room.
And I look in the mirror and it seems golden.
My skin torn, my nails, my grandmother’s hands.
My mother’s sounds in my head.
The ebbing and flooding of my father’s behaviour.
My grandfather’s smokescreen, all connected.
Scratching the skin, the layers of me, the dress.
Walking through my own mud and get stuck in
Inherited ways. Transcend, transcend the smog of history.
“Female Portrait” by József Rippl-Rónai (1861-1927)
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Published by Croque-Melpomene
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 poetry and short stories have been published in two anthologies entitled 'Shaking Thoughts' and 'Until Forever Becomes The End', both edited by Joan Barbara Simon PhD PhD, leading to a prose and poetry recital called 'Silence Breakers' at the Libreria Altrimenti in Luxembourg.
My article on 'Biblical Imagery and Apocalyptic Visions in Films' written for the university course 'Film And Popular Culture' was published in a Luxembourgish film magazine named 'Graffiti'.
My work was chosen as obligatory reading for the academic course 'Creative Writing' at the University of Luxembourg and was the focus of the students’ exam portfolio. I was invited by the University of Luxembourg to do a workshop on my short story 'Prophets of the Streetlight' for the 'Creative Writing' course, including a reading and a Q&A.
In 2013, I published my own collection of short stories and poetry entitled 'Seraphic Addiction', which led to an invitation by Ara City Radio to do an interview and a reading on air.
Consequently I was encouraged to create my own radio show called 'Chasse-Sirène' surrounding literature, films, music and art.
Furthermore, I am the official German translator of Joan Barbara Simon’s 'Verses Nature' trilogy.
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.
I am a weekly blogger for RTL Today, a major European media platform.
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