display your privates to flax
CECILIA VICUÑA / TR. ROSA ALCALA
D e a t h o f t h e p o l l i n a t o r s
ecopoetics, volume 1, page 107
I’ve been hovering around Cecilia V’s work for a few weeks, but just watching not engaging.
Online I’ve found:
Cecilia V’s facebook page
www.ceciliavicuna.org
video – installation “Water Cry”
video – Kon Kón, una pelÃcula de Cecilia Vicuña El Ciudadano TV / Chile
story – + PoesÃa, – PolicÃa, or, The true tale of how Cecilia saved me from the overlong arm of the law
video about a magazine – El Corno Emplumado – a story from the sixties
After all this texture, sound, color, motion, narrative –
black and white text on the page seems so limited.
But I returned to the (virtual) page this morning to try again to link in. It’s a way to participate in the solemnity.
In Europe, women
displayed their privates
to flaxAt the sight of vulvas
the plants grew
with great velocity
I enjoyed these stanzas the most.
One to bring in Europe. The puzzle of what is “indigenous.” I am indigenous to Europe if you go back far enough. I am concerned about the stance of children of colonists – what is there for us to do or say?
Second to bring in women. Feminism was at one time my lens through which I saw everything. I have strayed from that, with a sensation of defeat and exhaustion. This bit brought back a taste of it.
Sexuality present in the poem. Linked with the solemnity of death.