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CHRIS RICE COOPER is a newspaper/fiction writer, poet, photographer, painter. CRC Blog is an INCLUSIVE & NON-PROFIT BLOG acknowledging ALL voices, ALL individuals, ALL political views, ALL philosophies, ALL religions including Islamism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Agnosticism, Atheism. She has a B.S. in Criminal Justice & completed her workshops required for her Master’s in Creative Writing. She lives in St. Louis. CRC website http://chrisricecooper.com/

Friday, March 24, 2017

Poetry Anthology RED SKY - dedicated to CAROLINE MINJARES 12/11/1978 - 05/21/2015

Christal Cooper

caccoop@gmail.com caccoop@aol.com

https://www.facebook.com/christalann.ricecooper

Red Sky: poetry on the global epidemic of violence against women

edited by Melissa Hassard, Gabrielle Langley, & Stacy Nigliazzo

Published by Sable Books www.sablebooks.org

On May 21, 2015, friends Stacy Nigliazzo and Gabrielle Langley attended a poetry workshop at the Houston, Texas’s coffeehouse Café Brasil where they heard from poets such as Kenan Ince, Nancy Pearson, and Brooke Lightfoot.

When Stacy returned home later that evening she received a phone call from a mutual friend informing her that their friend Caroline Minjares had been murdered by her estranged boyfriend, who then committed suicide.

Caroline Minjares

“I was shocked and angry, and profoundly sad. I’d never personally known anyone who’d been murdered before.” Stacy said in a Facebook interview.

Caroline and Stacy worked together at the Neighbors Emergency Center in Houston, Texas as ER nurses. Stacy described Caroline as a dedicated professional and loving mother to her two daughters.

Caroline Minjares, middle, with her two daughters

https://www.gofundme.com/vdbk2ag

“The last time I saw her was just after a fall sunrise, a shift-change. She had a beautiful smile, even after twelve hours overnight on the unit.

Caroline Minjares

The next day Stacy read an article about Caroline’s murder and was shocked and petrified to find that the article headline listed the perpetrator’s name but not Caroline’s name. The article even went as far as to wish the perpetrator’s family and professional community (Caroline’s perpetrator was a firefighter) peace during this time; but no mention of Caroline or her community of nurses.

Caroline Minjares

“And it wasn’t just one article,” Stacy stated. “To this day, not a single headline bears her name.”

Caroline Minjares

Stacy sent an email to KHOU a Houston News outlet condemning the news outlet for not mentioning her name: “The very least you could do is mention her name in the heading, or even perhaps lead with Houston nurse instead of Houston firefighter. Let’s be clear about who the victim is, here. I seriously doubt she slit her own throat.”

Stacy used the news reports to craft the erasure poem “Triptych” in honor of Caroline’s memory, and sent the final draft to Gabrielle Langley to review. The poem “Triptych” was published in Lumen on July 6, 2015. (http://www.lumenmag.net/blog/triptych)

(https://www.facebook.com/LumenMagazine/photos/a.498073370289020.1073741825.285417791554580/498073353622355/?type=1&theater)

Melissa Hassard, poet, partner and manager editor of Sable Books (www.sablebooks.org) read the poem and contacted Stacy with the idea of an anthology of poetry addressing violence against women.

Melissa Hassard

“I’d been working on this issue, from dealing with revelations in my own life about my father, then offering writing workshops to survivors of domestic violence, and am always looking for ways to address violence against women — to talk about it, to bear witness, to ask why. I read Stacy's poem online, and reached out to her immediately — and it turned out that she and Gabrielle were already talking about this kind of project as well, as it was so important to them, too — and so we gathered our ideas, found a time to talk, and put this together.” Melissa stated in an email interview.

Melissa Hassard

Melissa, Stacy, and Gabrielle sent out a call for submissions to the anthology and received close to 1000 poems.

“We had a long reading phase, largely due to the difficult nature of some of the poems; I was personally triggered by some of the material. But Stacy, Gabrielle, and I would often take notes on the poems and we had several conversations about the individual poems and we were really open to defending or listening to one another’s thoughts on the work.”

They narrowed down the selection of poems from 1000 to 350, still too many for the anthology.

“We realized if we wanted as broad a body of work as possible, we were going to have to limit our choices to one poem per poet. Personally, I had to sit down with some of the poems for a long time, just listening. One poem would call out for the next. It felt like a divine hand was at work more than once.”

Stacy, Gabrielle, and Melissa all decided that this anthology Red Sky was to be more than just a book of poetry.

Melissa explained in greater detail: “Every time you compile a book around an issue you risk exploiting the very people that you are trying to provide voice or haven. Red Sky is no different, and we were and are very mindful at all times that real, flesh and blood women, including non-binary women and trans women — women experiencing very real violence — are at the center of this book.

This book, then, cannot be a product, and as such, all proceeds from sales of Red Sky go to the Global Fund for Women (https://www.globalfundforwomen.org)

Readings are difficult, because the material is difficult, and I myself have been triggered by more than one poem in the collection. Readings are difficult, and yet these voices of women are powerful and moving. We’d like to continue to do them, and we’d like to reach more women who may need to know they are not alone. This book speaks the truth of women’s lives — and protests that too many lives have been cut off too quickly. Finding ways to do this is what we were and are called to do.

Global Fund For Women web photo logo

We cannot thank the family of Caroline Minjares enough for blessing this book with their love, and we hope to continue to lift up and honor her memory.”

Caroline Minjares

Red Sky (with a compelling jacket design by Daniel Krawiec (https://www.facebook.com/dakrawiec) consists of 100 poems by 100 different poets. (Names, photographs and contacts of poets listed at the end of this piece).

Daniel Krawiec, far left, web logo photo.

Chera Hammons’s “How to Write About it” can be interpreted in two ways, one of which is the victim of violence remaining a victim of silence, trying to fit in to her environment which means a denial of her real self, what happened to her, and a denial of truth. As a result the woman is a prisoner not only to her abuser but also to her every day life. Because of all of this, when she looks in the mirror she cannot recognize herself.

But I prefer to interpret the poem in a different way – a way that gives the abused all the power.

Don’t make it rhyme; be quiet when you tell it.

Give it no rhythm, don’t clothe it in beauty,

just walk into the room of it without knocking.

The speaker of the poem is giving the woman sole power by not limiting her speech by how nice her words should sound or rhyme, how expensive her clothes are, and how expensive her makeup is. In fact, there are no limitations, the woman, as a testimony to her own abuse, is all powerful – and does not even need to knock in order to enter.

You could tell it in third person Like this:

a woman stands in front of a mirror like wallpaper

(she carries bouquets of purple and yellow

that bloom in loneliness).

In the first line of the second stanza the woman has the power to tell it in the third person. This could be interpreted in two ways – she is the victim of abuse or she is a witness of another woman being abused, which can be just as traumatic. Being a witness to a violent act can leave someone paralyzed just like wallpaper on the wall. They are frozen in fear. But even if the witness can not speak out of fear, she can at least relay her message of truth by simply holding bouquets of flowers, which are usually the gift the perpetrator gives his victim as a way of manipulation. She holds onto the flowers, which sets her apart from the wallpaper. She is no longer frozen.

Talk about why she barely recognizes herself

in that kind of light. How it’s not just the way the light falls

on her features, her layers of skin and fat and skeleton;

not just the bruises she blossoms into,

but the way she blends into every room,

though this one is all tint and flatness.

Tell that the room has no windows.

The woman is creating layers around her deepest self where the perpetrator cannot reach. When she looks in the mirror she does see the bruises but realizes that the perpetrator never touched her soul, the real her, and because of her ability to have this protective layer around her deepest self, she has been able to outsmart her perpetrator.

The place the woman occupies as she looks in the mirror has no windows, no outlet, not to keep her in prison, but to prevent the perpetrator from hiding and from hiding her face – which is a testament to the horrors the perpetrator has done. As a result, the perpetrator will be made visible and will be held accountable.

This third person in this room with no windows is now the one in control – revealing in every light of who the perpetrator is, what he has done, and forewarning others that this specific man exists and he is to be held accountable.

The woman is now able to look in the mirror and see all those layers that are evident of his abuse, which is very painful. She has to strip those layers not in self-denial or denial of the abuse, but to reveal her true identity – that of a complete all-powerful woman.

You could tell it like it happened to you.

Touch it, but let it be sparse: the tile is so cold it feels wet.

The metal edge of the medicine cabinet is bent and sharp.

The sound of the air conditioner is as empty

as a room when the music ends.

Mention that any other sound now

would be as startling as birds taking wing.

You should try to give it some mystery, too,

at least one line only those invited can enter:

say that she maps her own disaster with silence.

I find the first two lines of the third stanza the most liberating because it gives the woman permission to NEVER be “thankful” or even “positive” about experiencing the violence. A victim of violence should never say, “It made me stronger” because the woman is giving power to her perpetrator for making her a stronger person by his act of violence against her, which is absurd. The violence or the perpetrator never makes the victim more positive or stronger or better. Rather, the victim’s response to the violence and to her perpetrator is what makes her stronger, positive, free, and uplifted. This takes the power and ability completely away from the perpetrator; and gives all power back to the woman.

Now is the time for the third person and the deepest part of the woman to meet face to face and mourn what the perpetrator has done; Do what it takes to make herself healthy again – even if it is the tile of a hospital room or a psychiatric ward, medication in a medicine cabinet, an empty room where only she and music coincide.

The last three lines of the third stanza are particularly liberating to women of violence who do not wish to talk about their experiences. Some women respond to acts of violence in different ways and some women heal in different ways. It’s okay for a woman to be mysterious as long as she is able to face the reality of what was done to her, and seeks whatever help is necessary to live a fruitful, meaningful, and happy life.

Or it could be interpreted in this way – the woman is now in her own room, where windows are white and beautiful – where she has control of what creatures fly in. At first this new sense of freedom is frightening, because she’s been so used to living in this third person – but now that the perpetrator and what he did to her has been exorcised – it is now time to integrate all parts of herself and reveal them to the world – inviting all those to enter – but only those who respect her, even the parts of her that will forever remain a mystery.

Or just walk around her. She won’t even notice you’re there.

When you leave, you’ll leave her standing alone in the mirror, as naked as when you came in.

She’ll never be able to deny what happened to her – but she has to leave that part of her life behind looking at the mirror always reaffirming that she is not imagining things, that it wasn’t just a misunderstanding, or that she didn’t wear too short of a skirt, or that she egged her hubby on which led him to hit her. No, she will always be there naked – a testament to his guilt. But the full and complete woman, person she is, has to look at her looking in the mirror and go on with her life.

You have seen it so many times you know what will happen.

You can say why it happens.
This time, you could save her life if you like.

There are others who have unfortunately been victims of what she has been a victim of. It is time to join with these others, develop nurturing relationships, and it is in these relationships that healing will be granted upon the woman.

Or you can just tell it and don’t give any reason.

And always remember. She doesn’t owe anybody a damn thing!