Rick Gammon

On mishearing Macbeth Act V: “What a sigh is there!”

by Rick Gammon

Sunday 9th April 2017 11:02 am

What a Size!

She stood uncertain centre-stage

A tremulous tethered kid

In a jungle clearing tiger shoot

Shielding her eyes

Against the spotlight glare

Apologising for her timidity

“I’ve never spoken in public before”

Softly expressing women’s rage

At fear of rape and violence

Her quiet seething anger

Enhanced by gentle diffidence

She should have been issuing

Books of botany and butterflies

In a still water library in Bexhill-on-Sea

Not standing with hands on hips

With growing confidence and trenchant irony

Warming to her theme

Telling the indignities

Women encounter in cess-pit society

Not standing with hands on confident hips

In a modest red dress

And matching specs from Vision Express

Taking deep breaths.

A nudge in the ribs - my mate's hiss

“Great tits. Would you give her one?”

“My granddaughter’s older than her.”

“Yeah but look at 'em… Would you?”

I stripped her naked in my mind and grinned

“Go on. Yeah. Bloody hell yes. Not half.”

O Mary, full of grace, is it too late?

I cannot look long in the mirror these days.

◄ To Anaïs - A Lover I Met On The Way

Carolyn ►

Comments

Rick Gammon

Sun 9th Apr 2017 18:39

I guess we do our best to 'civilise' ourselves but those primal urges outrun us.

Thanks, both for your thoughtful replies ?

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Sun 9th Apr 2017 18:17

Brilliant - and honest - and not so terrible. No, not so terrible.

If there is this driving sexual force for new life in animal males (and MY new life in particular), then why do we castigate the male of the human species for reacting so basically. A thought doesn't equate an action. Humans are in transition. There is much to 'sort out' from basic physicality to spiritual beings.

We're working on it. The real clinker is: men and women still put so much emphasis on sheer sexual attraction, about as basic as you can get. And still the 'dominant factor' even for casual social association. Otherwise, women's excessive makeup, see-through clothes and stiletto heels would be an abomination to both sexes.

Now I will read the prior comment. Might be interesting.

M.C. Newberry

Sun 9th Apr 2017 17:20

The fact is that centuries of human advancement have
not changed the basic behavioural attitude that Nature
maintains in the male/female scenario.
On the one hand, human social interaction demands we
behave in "acceptable" ways, whilst on the other hand,
nature eggs on our minds and bodies with its inbuilt
urges designed to propel our propagation onwards, with
no mind to recognise "civilised" (religious?) attitudes.
that are intended to inhibit and control.
I've little doubt that men of Shakespeare's time had just
the same thoughts in mind - albeit not in the theatre
where men and boys took women's roles - or that,
despite the claustrophobic clothing and (literally)
buttoned-up sexual interaction of Victorian days, the
same thoughts existed. Nature will find (have?) its way
despite the best of intentions and efforts to restrain
it within human society - using the criminal law to
punish those who force themselves on others outside
the accepted circumstances "of the moment". But
that's what courts are for...not least for the protection
of those unable to defend themselves...and the law
even defines ages of consent before offering the arena
of the court for decision and judgement. Confining this
dissertation to adults:
Men will seek...men hope to find
But it's women who decide if they mind!

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