Christal
Cooper
Genocidal Rape in
Millicent Borges
Accardi’s
Only More
So
This past April 2016 Millicent Borges
Accardi’s new poetry collection Only More So was published by Salmon
Poetry.
Only More So is
compact 75 pages of 46 poems focusing on genocide, family, patriotism, and
spirituality.
The most compelling poems are the poems that
expose genocidal rape - each poem so appalling it gives you that needed punch
in the gut. These poems sear the brain,
fiercely hot, that it is impossible to ignore, compelling our senses, and is impossible
to forget. These poems are living
testimony demanding to be read, offering comfort to those who need comfort,
conviction for those who need conviction, and change for all of us – in order
to make it a violent free world.
“Ciscenje Prostora”
(Ethnic Cleansing)
The poem “Ciscenje Prostora” centers on
the evil of genocidal rape, which has always been used as a method of war since
humanity first engaged in wars.
This
woman does not know he
carries
the devil’s four poster bed
in
his palm, clutching it like promised
money:
Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, home.
All she knows is the sound of his boots, and the
rebel tanks that shake the houses she and her neighbors live in. Unfortunately, her knowledge is expanded when
he finds her.
She
knows not to stare back
when
he finds her, hiding behind a clay
plot. When his soldier’s eyes become her
life,
more understandable than her or me or any
pronoun
she whispers out between no and help,
she
shuts her eyes, imagining cold weather.
The man proceeds to rape this woman,
first on the family’s rug, and then against the wall of the family’s house. We then learn this young woman is the third
generation of women in her family to be victims of genocidal rape.
In the seventh stanza this woman now
represents all the women who have endured this atrocity:
Serbia,
Bosnia, Croatia; the countries undulate
together
while he dances the dance of the basilisk
thighs
marching, marching.
The next to the last stanza can refer to
two things – either the man is interpreting the sounds of birds to be the pleas
and cries from the woman to stop; or it could be his comrades cheering him on.
Even
little sounds, like birds overhead
encourage
him to go on, to spit, to breathe
three
generations of her surrender into his lungs.
“Only More So”
The poem title of the book “Only More So”
centers on a gang rape of a wife by a gang of soldiers in front of her husband,
who, though rubbing a wooden riffle, is powerless to help her. The soldiers demand she open the door so they
can share the warmth of her yellow fire; they inquire about the valuables she
has on her person and in her home; and demand she go fetch them water.
It
was like this: the woman’s hips swayed
like
harmonicas when the men watched her fetch
water
and run it into the basin, cracking
ice
with her fingernails.
Accardi then describes how the woman’s clothing
is being removed from her with ease and seduction. There is no question that this woman is being
raped. The clothes symbolize the men’s
depravity and how easily it is for them to exhibit evil.
counted the woman’s
buttons
as they easily slipped through the stitching
of
her clothes.
As
each man takes his turn with the woman, her husband still in the corner, the woman
faces a reality of hopelessness and helplessness.
this last
woman,
clasped a bowl to her chest knowing, knowing,
what
the snow outside pretended, knowing
that
nothing important ever belonged to her.
Her thinking changes from that of
powerlessness to basic survival:
That
now she must survive by owning air,
holding
back the red, the full, the bare,
the
proud canvases of flat language paper
that
once told her everything she needed to know.
It
was like this, only more so.
How To Shake off the
Policiade Seguranca Publica Circa 1970”
“How To Shake off the Policiade Seguranca
Publica Circa 1970” tells of the state of unrest in Accardi’s home country
of Portugal during the Portuguese Colonial War between Portugal’s military and the nationalist movement
in Portugal’s African colonies. The war lasted between 1961 and 1974.
Portugal in 1970
This poem is applicable to America today particularly
on college campuses with the rapes that have occurred and the lack of justice
given to these women.
Founder of EROC Annie E Clark
The speaker of the poem is advising what a young
woman of 1970 Portugal should do if she finds herself walking alone at night,
with the Portugal Police in sight.
Attributed to Maria Helena Vieirada Silva
Her advice is also applicable to that lone
college girl walking alone at night.
turn into the nearest
side
street, that is dimly lighted.
Find
a building
where
people are entering
easily. Go up the stairs
as
if you have business
there,
or as if this is your
own
home, which it isn’t.
Do
not look back even
cautiously
at the PSP,
glance
down, step with surety
into
the unfamiliar lobby.
Find
the stairs. Sit
in
the darkness under
until
you have
become
the earth. Hold
your
breath
until
the men have gone
by. Tell yourself you are safe
and
everything
is
fine. Remain curled up
longer
than you have to,
longer
than you imagine might
be
necessary before
you
regroup and head back.
“In a Certain Village”
Accardi uses the story of “Little Red
Riding Hood,” the rape culture’s self-blame, and survival guilt to describe the
injustice of rape in her poem “In a Certain Village.”
In
a Certain Village
The
clothing all fit perfectly,
Especially
a red cape made by
A
specific woman for her
Less
than specific daughter.
There
was an unruly journey
And
patted cake with a minute
pot
of yellow, whipped butter
peaceful
as a softened heart.
There
was a wild beast
of
a tallish bad-mannered
man
who said, “I’ll go this way,
my
dear and you go that.”
There
was a long illness,
Sort
of like the flu or scarlet
Fever. There was a plain wooden
armoire
and a grandmother.
This
will end badly, I think
we
all know, don’t we?
“Watch
your back.”
the
girl’s mother said.
Before
the journey she
Cautioned,
“the world is not
Always
kind.” This story is also
about
a bed and a zippered knife
With
a blood gauge. I warn you,
no
one here is left to discuss
the
legal terms, or the details of
what
might have happened.
Later
the village people will puzzle
About
the incident, and they will
ask
after the grandmother,
“Did
she live far? And “Was it dark
when
her journey began?”
Little Red Riding Hood by Carl Larsson in 1881
“Start Here”
In “Start Here” the great question is not
if a violation/rape of a woman has occurred, but when it begins? Does it begin by the perpetrator gaining the
trust of his victim?
It
was like trusting
a
stranger and letting
him
into your house,
when
you had a nagging
feeling
he would turn
up
later with a key.
attributed to Matt Manley
copyright granted by Matt Manley
Does the victim bare any responsibility
for the perpetrator’s actions simply by ignoring her feelings of fear and
trusting him anyway?
Even
as you answered
The
door, saying
in
an unfrightened
way,
that you wanted
to
be, were wanting
to
be charitable,
There
were thoughts
of
a gang of men.
of
him, just like this
breaking
"Date Rape And Self Awareness"
attributed to Lynn St. Clare Foster
copyright granted by Lynn St. Clare Foster
https://www.facebook.com/urbanluminaire
attributed to Lynn St. Clare Foster
copyright granted by Lynn St. Clare Foster
https://www.facebook.com/urbanluminaire
Does the woman need to be a victim of
rape in order to experience the damages of rape? Is it possible that generations of women suffering
from rape can pass the traumas of rape to their offspring?
You
saw your
grandmother,
someone
asking
for her
purse,
then more.
Lots
more.
www.chrisricecooper.blogspot.com
In closing it seems totally appropriate
to end this analysis of Millicent Borges Accardi’s new poetry collection Only
More So with a quote by famous feminist Carol Hanisch:
“A woman should be able to walk stark
naked down Main Street and not be raped. No man has a right to invade her
territory uninvited." 
