reading & writing (as)woman 2

8/2/2019 Reading & Writing (as)Woman 2

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Marjorie Evascos Dreamweavers

by Noelle Leslie dela Cruz, Ph.D.

De La Salle University


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Reading & writing (as) Womany In this paper, I inquire into the

ontology of poetic thinking as it

serves the goals of feministphilosophizing about otherness.

y I focus on Filipino poet MarjorieEvascos Dreamweavers (1987),

especially as it makes use oflanguage in the re-construction ofgender.


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Statement of the problem(1) Is there a relationship between the feminine and

poetic writing?

(2) Can poetry serve the feminist goal of critiquingotherness?


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Main thesis

The poetic form canconstruct an ontology ofgender that overcomes

the philosophicalproblem of otherness

A close reading ofMarjorie Evascos

Dreamweavers


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The philosophical & the poetic

y The poetic and philosophical sensibilities have longbeen contrasted with each other. The former is

perceived to be sensuous and affective, while the latteris understood as abstract and cognitive.


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The philosophical & the poeticy In the Western tradition, the

opposing natures of the two

are famously articulated byPlato in Book X ofTheRepublic, in which he refersto the ancient quarrel

between literature andphilosophy.


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A comparison of two sensibilitiesThe philosophical The poetic

y Abstract

y Idealy Rational

y Logic

y Argument

y

Literaly Objective

y Cognition, reflection

y Utilitarian

y Concrete

y Embodied, sensuousy Emotive

y Narrative

y Myth, imagery, metaphor

y

Figurativey Subjective

y Intuition, reverie

y Aesthetic


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Dualistic thought and the othering

of the feminine in philosophy

y The question of gender has long been neglected in thewritings of philosophers (e.g. Plato, Aristotle,

Nietzsche, and Heidegger) who have inquired into theaffinities and disaffinities between poetry andphilosophy.

y This neglect is unfortunate because the lens of gender

best exposes the pernicious dualisms of thought andlanguage.


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Feminist philosophy: Key points

The predominance of

men and the generalabsence of women inphilosophy

The application ofmale standards in

universal accountsof life and human

nature

The denigration ofwomens nature andexperience by male

philosophers

Thephallogocentrism

and somatophobiaof traditional western

philosophy


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Dualistic thought and the othering

of the feminine in philosophyMasculine-identified terms Feminine-identified terms

Abstract Concrete

Spirit FleshTranscendence Immanence

Mind Body

Reason Emotion

Objective Subjective

Self Other

Justice Care

Public Private

Political Personal


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Poetry as a way out

of dualismFrom Nine Gates: Entering the

Mind of Poetry by Jpoet aneHirshfield (1998), page. 17

InACB of Reasing, EzraPound describes poeticmeaning as taking three

primary forms. First, henames melopoeia, a poemsmusic. Second, there islogopeia, a poemsintellectual component. Wecome now to this third power:phanopoeia, the making ofimages.


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Poetry as a way out


Mind of Poetry by J Jane Hirshfield(1998), page. 114

y good poetry carries broad informationwithin brief speech. Image in particular,by gathering many energies toward asingle end, creates an intense compression

of meaning; it carries into the mind thesolidity, particularity, andmultifacetedness of actual objects. Suchconcreteness is a handle: it can begrasped. It must also be turned. Thatturning opens the reader into a place of

enlarged awareness, where differentconnotations may resonate together.Before the slipperiness of unformedthought, the image offers purchase; to thestolidity of things, it offers imaginations

alchemical, stirring powers.


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Poetry as a way out


Mind of Poetry by Jane Hirshfield(1998), page. 16

y To be aware of a poems effectsaware of the expectations raised byeach new word and aware of how

the poem satisfies and changesthose expectations throughout itscoursedoes not require namingevery moments strategic gesture. Itrequires only our alert

responsiveness, our presence toeach shift in the currents oflanguage with an answeringshift in our own being.


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Evascos poetics in Dreamweaversy In The Other Voice: Reply to

Anzaldua, a paper that prefacesDreamweavers, Evasco writes aboutgrowing up with the womenfolk of herfamily in Bohol and hearing theirstories

y The women sent their brothers to

school by weaving and selling tikogand romblon mats, at a time whenwomen were not allowed to travelalone and studied, if at all, only thehomemaking arts


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Evascos poetics in Dreamweaversy Born woman in a different time

under different circumstances, I

had the chances NanayT

inay neverhad. I grew up in many schoolswhich taught me the power oflanguage and the language ofpower. I was trained too well to

look at everything from a distance:how to evoke with words the life inthe mountains without holdingNanay Tinays hands and letting herspeak


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Evascos poetics in Dreamweavers

y how to judge the pitchers formwithout putting into the picture the

village womans bent backstraightening ever so briefly at thewell before she is bent over again;how to follow the proper rules of

language without even asking whyIhad to invoke the divine or thehuman only in the masculine.(page 11)


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Evascos poetics in Dreamweavers

y This language of exclusion cutup my tongue and my dream life

into several separate pieces. It isthis language that excludes ourforemothers from our books, andcontinues to push us to the

periphery of things, render usinvisible, separate us from eachother, maim our bodies and ourspirits. (11)


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Evascos poetics in Dreamweaversy In the long process of awakening

to the deepest levels of my creative

lifes fragmentation, I have recentlycome to terms with the healing artof speaking in tongues. I have re-membered our mothers originallanguage, the metaphors of

connectedness. No longer is itenough to know how to manipulatethe word-thoughts so that theysound clever, objective, universal


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Explanation for the book covery The Itneg sorcerers blanket

integrates the mata (eye) motifand the ancient Asian key design.

Both eye and key designs relate tothe sense of an integrated SELF. Inarchaic artmaking that self wasexpressed as the Universal Femaleor the Great mother archetype.Our research shows continued useuntil century of blankets withthese designs by female sorcerersto communicate with divinity.

Marian Pastor Roces


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Dreamweavers by Marjorie Evasco

We are entitled to our own

definitions of the worlds

we have in common:

earth house (stay)

water well (carry)

fire stove (tend)air song (sigh)

ether dream (die)


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Dreamweavers by Marjorie Evascoand try out new combinations

with key words

unlocking power

house on fire sing!stove under water stay,

earth filled well die


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The spells and spellingsof our vocabularies

are oracularin translation

one woman in Pagnito-an

and another in Solentinamestill another in Harxheim

and many other women

naming

half the world together


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can move their earth

must house their firebe water to their song

will their dreams well.


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ConclusionIs there an essential relationship between the feminine

and poetic writing?

Yes. The feminine has been traditionally devaluedand marginalized in various discourses. Poetry andthe literary arts are othered in Western rationalisticphilosophy. The poetic sensibility is closer to the

feminine-identified set of terms. Thus, to poeticize isto make use of a writing forma way of thinkingwhich is feminine-identified, regardless of whetherone is male or female.


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ConclusionCan poetry serve the feminist goal of critiquing

otherness?

Yes. Poetry provides a new way of expressing genderthat transcends, overcomes, or reconciles thedualisms of abstract thought. It does this by way of

the literary turning, i.e. a transformation on an oldway of thinking into a new one which isaccompanied by a shift in being. Evascos poemDreamweavers is a case in point.

reading & writing (as)woman 2

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