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Open Poetry #7
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I Shot Andy Warhol (Valerie Solanas)
| Open Poetry #7 |
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I Shot Andy Warhol (Valerie Solanas) |
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brian madden Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 4374ireland 
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Beauty duplicated on request, One screen print breeds a thousand more cheapening her stardom. Painted gold the face of Monroe decorates the streets from Paris to Rome. Deconstruct society ideals through the vapours of LSD, another party year of free love. All the women sell themselves for a piece of this self made celebrity. Replicas to his farce vision a world where men sell us as a commodity. My sisters I address you silently in your kitchens, Sharpen your blades and read my manifesto until your husbands return, play happy families while secretly planning a revolution. We stake our righteous claim for our superiority. Today I strike for you Today I made your voices known TODAY I SHOT ANDY WARHOL. S ubterranean night-club drones worship C elebrity. No artist, no U nique vision, drug king kills us slowly quietly, M urder him for you my sisters. My face is forgotten, never adorned the galleries. Surely I deserve his acclaim. I have vision worth far more than his facade. I fear they may suppress my efforts and quieten your doubts. I would have been a martyr were it not for the enemy Deep down they know their inferiority yet they are so in love with their control their folly will kill us all. I shot Andy Warhol. It was not a failure, for they know that we will strike back, they can not keep us down forever. They know us now as their S.C.U.M. =========================================== "Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation, and destroy the male sex." SCUM Manifesto Valerie Solanas ------------------------ "I've been too honest with myself I should have lied like everybody else"-Richey Edwards "Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time". Baltimore Grotto "Libraries gave us power Then work came and made us free What price now for a shallow piece of dignity" Nicky Wire, A design for Life. manic street preachers "Rock 'n' roll is our epiphany Culture, alienation, boredom and despair" |
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Temptress
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-06-15
Posts 7136Mobile, AL |
Very interesting.  Nothing can deter a poet, for he is actuated by pure love. Who can predict his comings and goings? "Thoreau" |
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Jana Tovey Member
since 2000-05-30
Posts 257USA |
This line was the one That I felt spoke volumes: "Deep down they know their inferiority yet they are so in love with their control their folly will kill us all." I used to feel this way about a certain group of men that I had to work with (in the Oil Industry). I think this person knew that lot really well. |
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netswan Senior Member
since 2000-03-28
Posts 1369Washington |
Brian - you are so young and yet have all this knowledge of the world outside of Brian. I am truly in awe of this -- when I was young, if it didn't have anything to do with me - it probably didn't exist They must be harder on women in Ireland? Is it? ~netswan |
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brian madden Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 4374ireland |
Tempress, "Very interesting". Thanks...I take it you enjoyed the poem. Thanks for reading. Jana, the poem is based on Valerie Solanas, the founder of SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men). She was a feminist in the extreme. She did have a hard time with men, her father abused her and she was forced to work as a prostitute, to support herself. I read parts of her SCUM manifesto, and as a man it is not easy to read some great quotes though. I was also at the Andy Warhol exhibition. I don't know whether my poem reflects her thoughts or not, this is the first time I have ever chosen to write from someone's else point of view who was a real person. I guess the driving force behind the poem is that Warhol did prints of icons such as Marilyn Monroe and made a load of duplicates of the prints. The whole image thing, to be able to mass-produce these great icons of Womanhood (well from a man's point of view). Thanks for reading the poem, thanks for wonderful response. Newswan, harder on women in Ireland? What they only have to milk the 50 cows 3 times a day, cook the dinner and do the housework. -Joking by the way. No I don't think women have it harder. Beside Valerie Solanas was American. I guess I am a male feminist, or a male lesbian (though part of me is full red blooded male). I guess I wrote about this because it is extreme, I tried to see things from her point of view. Thanks for your comments, and for reading the poem. Below are two quotes from Valerie's manifesto. "The male is a biological accident: the Y (male) gene is an incomplete X (female) gene, that is, has an incomplete set of chromosomes. In other words, the male is an incomplete female, a walking abortion, aborted at the gene stage. To be male is to be deficient, emotionally limited; maleness is a deficiency disease and males are emotional cripples". "He [the male] is trapped in a twilight zone halfway between humans and apes, and is far worse off than the apes because, unlike the apes, he is capable of a large array of negative feelings - hate, jealousy, contempt, disgust, guilt, shame, doubt - and moreover he is aware of what he is and isn't". ------------------------ "I've been too honest with myself I should have lied like everybody else"-Richey Edwards "Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time". Baltimore Grotto "Libraries gave us power Then work came and made us free What price now for a shallow piece of dignity" Nicky Wire, A design for Life. manic street preachers "Rock 'n' roll is our epiphany Culture, alienation, boredom and despair" |
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Janet Marie Member Laureate
since 2000-01-22
Posts 18554 |
oh to walk barefoot in that mind of yours LOL where do you come up with this vision. like swan said...you see it all, you are wise and perceptive well beyond your years...hell... your well beyond MY years lol-this is good thing  later-geniuspoet-gator jm |
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brian madden Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 4374ireland |
Janet I am extending an invitation to walk through my mind, though I would suggest you wear shoes I haven't had time to clean up the broken glass yet, also you will notice two doors marked "shameful deeds" and "perverse pleasures." they are locked, nobody is allowed in. I wish they were not there, they appeared over time now I can't get rid of them. Wise and perceptive....oh thanks, but I know there are certain things I can not see because of my vantage point. thanks for your wonderful reply. =========================================== "A true community consists of individuals - not mere species members, not couples - respecting each other's individuality and privacy, at the same time interacting with each other mentally and emotionally - free spirits in free relation to each other - and cooperating with each other to achieve common ends. Traditionalists say the basic unit of "society" is the family; "hippies" say the tribe; no one says the individual." "There's no reason why a society consisting of rational beings capable of empathizing with each other, complete and having no natural reason to compete, should have a government, laws, or leaders". Valerie Solanas. ------------------------ "I've been too honest with myself I should have lied like everybody else"-Richey Edwards "Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time". Baltimore Grotto "Libraries gave us power Then work came and made us free What price now for a shallow piece of dignity" Nicky Wire, A design for Life. manic street preachers "Rock 'n' roll is our epiphany Culture, alienation, boredom and despair" |
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Kit McCallum
Administrator
Member Laureate
since 2000-04-30
Posts 14774Ontario, Canada |
Well, this poem should provide you your 15 minutes of fame and then some Brian!!! Wow, what a controversial woman this Valerie seems to be. You've summed her up well! Fascinating topic, though I fear she's a rather warped and bitter woman from the sounds of it! Great poem!!! Best wishes, /Kit |
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