Only read a little so far but wonderful combination of prose about her life and experiences followed by a few poems about this.
"When I am Dead, Will You Finally Shut The Fuck Up" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi-sWAAjqtQ
"Megatron, Transformers" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCO-YmLT8t4
"British Natural Breakfast" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJw9yGqBYJ8
1917: Shortly after the United States' entry into the First World War, the US War Industries Board asks women to stop buying corsets to free up metal for war production. This step liberates some 28,000 tons of metal, enough to build two battleships.
On the topic of selfies, this made me rethink my dislike of them: Not everyone has a garden though, do they? Or a house they can furnish and decorate. For many people, especially pooror or younger people, their own body is all they have through which to represent themselves. Their owe blank canvas. Caking yourself in make-up and taking a selfie is surely not so different from obsessing over the pansies in the front garden or posting yet another photo of your kitchen renovation.
[...]
("The Self-Portrait" in Art Quarterly) a line about selfies. While the author rejoiced in artistic self-portaits in general, writing, 'The Self-Portrait claims its unique place in the history of human culture because of its ability to map, or seem to map, the fluid transformations of human identity. Making yourself visible is an attempt to clear some space', he then went on to say, while discussing the self-portraits of Paul Gauguin, that his complex representations of self 'read as especially pertinent in today's accelerated climate of personal aggrandisement through self-representation'. (Yes, selfies.)
[...]
his aside about selfies being 'personal aggrandisement' pissed me off. I don't believe that people take and share selfies merely for 'personal aggrandisement'. It seemed a very smug tosser of a comment to me. In fact, I think using big long words like 'aggrandisement' in an article is more of a cry for 'personal aggrandisement' than taking a selfie is.
[...]
After years of being represented, or not, by other people, finally a hell of a lot of people who couldn't before are able to take their own photos, to show themselves in the light they want with the filter they want at the time they want doing what they want tos how the world who they are according to themselves.i
apparently pigeons have twenty-four different receptors in their eyes (we only have three). So chances are, pigeons are absolutely spectacular, but we have no way of seeing them.
dublin pigeon
for Rhiannon, who has always loved pigeons
i see you pigeons!
see that neck!
all emerald!
all amethyst!
sick to death
of all the praise
those fucking
parrots get
if you were
on instagram
i imagine
your account
would be
everyday updated
with selfies
of that lovely neck
shouting:
look at me you bastards!
i'm beautiful as well
yes, but have you ever seen my tits?
i agree with you completely;
nature is a precious source
of constant inspiration;
the way swallows sleep in air;
those starling mumurations;
migrations of the humpback whale;
the balance of a mountain goat
on misted cloudy cliffs;
this planet is a wonder
of course i am in awe of it
i'm just saying: have you ever seen my tits?
because they are quite spectacular as well;
these marshmallow masterpieces
shape shift every single month
like elephants in an earthquake
to warn of coming blood
able, for almost
twelve months of their life
to shoot milk across a room
with the mere surrender of my arms;
cramping to a baby's charms
across a tesco superstore;
leaking at the mere mention
of another needy child;
at other times –
masturbation's catalys
direct line to the clitoris
a wank between two clouds
for a very lucky penis
landing pad for happy endings
two pillows for a perfect nap;
faithful office stressballs;
comfort in a bun
i'm not saying that my breasts
are necessarily better
than some birds who sleep mid-air
i'm just saying
i understand why people stare
