I don't think it's broke enough to need mending - the stitches might show!
bw
SallyE

on 12/1/04 12:28 pm, Helen Clare at [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Bob
> Absolutely right.
> Bonding and bondage are totally different things - this is a person in
> bondage, emotionally as well as sexually.
> I think you are right about rolled too. Or maybe we is wrong. One to muse on
> over time until the right thing comes.
> Thanks
> Helen
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Bob Cooper <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 11:41 AM
> Subject: Re: New Sub: Bondage (Bob)
>
>
>> Hi Helen,
>>
>> I often feel that readers don't always let titles register when they're
>> reading poems - and I guess I had to discipline myself to focus on titles
> as
>> well as the poems. I guess the usual process is: read title quickly, read
>> poem much more slowly, read the poem again, glance back at title before
>> mooving on (and hopefully register it's significance!). With this being
> such
>> a short poem, however, the title doesn't submerge as much when the poem
> has
>> surfaced - it's always there, it does the biz! (I hadn't thought before
>> about how titles work differently for short poems than for long poems!)
>>
>> I get a sense of the sexual bondage more than I get a sense of the bonding
>> of the two people in the relationship. I sense that's because bondage
>> implies a relationship where one is very dominant and the other is very
>> passive - and the narrator, as I read the poem, is showing (a willing)
>> vulnerability/passivity. (I also think the word "bondage" is linked more
> to
>> slavery, submissiveness, authority and power and is a denial of freedom,
>> expression, etc; in other words, from how I want the world to be, it's
>> morally suspect in any culture). I find that meaning of "bondage" is
>> stronger than any link the word may have with "a bond" or of two people
>> "bonding."
>>
>> I think the poem has a lot of implied sexuality, and the word "kinks" is
>> powerful, and I guess (as I mentioned before) it's the word "rolled" - the
>> whole phrase "we've rolled through" - which could be replaced to denote
> more
>> of the power/passivity implied in the title. Rolling implies (to me) that
>> both people can roll freely, can roll as much as each other. So I'm still
>> thinking the word "rolled" isn't yet as focused as all the other nouns and
>> verbs.
>>
>> Bob
>>
>> Who's got to get back to working!
>>
>>
>>> From: Helen Clare <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: New Sub: Bondage (Bob)
>>> Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 20:35:15 -0000
>>>
>>> Hi Bob
>>> Yeah, there may be a verb that does more work than rolled - can't find it
>>> just yet!
>>> I wonder if there ought to be a sexual bondage in the poem as well as
> just
>>> an emotional one - or can I get away with letting the title do all that?
>>> H
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: Bob Cooper <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 7:13 PM
>>> Subject: Re: New Sub: Bondage
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi Helen,
>>>> This poem invites me to imagine/create a world where such a
> relationship
>>>> happens. It succeeds. It's plain matter of fact language is striking,
>>>> unforgettable, powerful.
>>>> I sometimes wonder if "rolled" is the right word? I don't know enough
>>> about
>>>> bondage to know how apt the word is!
>>>> Bob
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> From: Helen Clare <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>> Subject: New Sub: Bondage
>>>>> Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 08:08:42 -0000
>>>>>
>>>>> Bondage.
>>>>>
>>>>> After all the kinks we've rolled through
>>>>> we reach the last - yours to zip
>>>>> and leave and mine to slit
>>>>> my chest and hold the flaps apart for you
>>>>>
>>>>> Helen Clare
>>>>
>>>> _________________________________________________________________
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>>
>> _________________________________________________________________
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