Symbolic Power Plays

Isenheim Altarpiece at Colmar - Niclaus of Haguenau and Matthias Grünewald 1512–1516Here’s another in the Unoriginal Patriarchy series, which commenced with Sol Invictus.

Take It To The Max

thorned on cross
cock no more crows
triumphant,
yet salutes her
mourning below.
while lambs vie,
coquetting with lions
on foreign barricades
medusa snakes writhe
disapproval
in mother’s grimace.

kill it, kill her now
recruit sisters,
initiate daughters
kill them too –
kill them all,
in bloodwash
this whiteness, this whiteness
eternal redemption,
supremacy,
damnation.

Jinjirrie, January 2016.

‘The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem.’

– bell hooks, “The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love”, 2004