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seabhac
seabhac
Dec 17, 2009 ⭐ View statistics (Premium feature)

Sheela na gig

  Vagina pulled backOn ancient SheelaMedieval memoriesCarved your obscenities.
 Blamed for cursesClaimed for curesAdored as goddessesCondemned as whoresEnigmatic women
 Viewed todayPagan roots they sayIn entrances to churches You are foundYour mystery aboundsFertility the prayed for riteAcross the world all women unite.                      2 If our Sheela can ever be foundKiltinan is her resting groundHacked from wallsRaped and plunderedLand spirit pulled asunder.I voice a world wide callReturn the woman of the wall



Nude female figures carved in stone. Their genitals unequivocally exposed, are know as Sheela na gigs.They are sited in medieval buildings throughout western Europe where paradoxically they are often found on churches.Kiltinan church had its Sheela stolen on the 9th of January 1990 and has never been found.
 
— seabhac, Dec 17, 2009

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Country/Region: GBR

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Critiques

Bonitaj

Bonitaj

16 years 5 months ago

Interesting build up of tension...

Would've liked to see the title being: WOMEN OF THE WALL... cf Your last line! (then making it plural as I did) Interesting and informative write! Thanks Lyz! Best Boni
seabhac

seabhac

16 years 5 months ago

Thanks Boni

Liked the idea of the Women of the Wall as a title...funny how words evoke different reactions depending on your life experiences and women of the wall immediately took me to the wailing wall in the east...who knows maybe these Sheelas were used in a similar way in the communities they were originally for. Their placement and form fascinate me as an artist and as a woman. Thanks for reading and commenting Seabhac
Seren

Seren

16 years 5 months ago

Dear Seabhac

Terrific write Liz ... you really are stretching and growing as a poet my friend its a pleasure to watch and I learned something new this morning ... thanks for that :D love and hugs Jayne x x
seabhac

seabhac

16 years 5 months ago

Hi Jayne

Lovely to have you visit...you have been producing so prolifically i struggle to keep up and then i find one I love more than the last one ( but I still have my very favourite on that has not yet been ousted from its regal position )and so many comments have said all I just enjoy the poem and perhaps you never even know I have been to appreciate. Thanks for your support over the last few months Hugs back at you Seabhac
B

bjp

16 years 5 months ago

Dear Elizabeth,

I like this better. The veil is less evident. The first line is a zinger, "Vagina pulled back". From chalice to shield. Maybe "Vulva pulled back," would be about fertility. Vagina pulled back is about prevention. "Carved your obsenities" is good and personal, particularly when mere, "Carved obsenities" was a option. The second stanza dives into clichés again. By the by, avoiding clichés is typically harder and can accomplish most anything a cliché can manage except the shear tedium of the latter. Owning the meassage is the power. No candy coatings necessary. No taboo-camaflage is useful - that merely steals the power away. Good for you to climb back on the bike. Brian
seabhac

seabhac

16 years 5 months ago

Glad you liked this better

Vagina and vulva are very different words with a specific meaning to each. I am of course speaking from a woman’s point of view. a vagina is about allowing penetration not preventation...Vulva is only accessible after that so a very great difference...from a woman’s perspective of course. Yes personalising Sheela here seems to have a better effect and given ownership to the writing. I feel you are a little hung up on clichés here but maybe you have been around Neo longer than I have but contrived is not always best and cliché is a common voice and actually , I feel has its place. Used tactfully and with intent of course. I have no taboos and honesty is important to me, so sorry if I don't do sugar coated. I never fell off the bike, I just go slower on the hills. Very Best Wishes Seabhac
Z

ziggy

16 years 5 months ago

hi

hi there , the title drew me in having heard of this before well written ,,,,,ziggy
seabhac

seabhac

16 years 5 months ago

Ziggy great to hear from you

If anyone would know a good Sheels when he sees one it will be you. ( as a stone mason) My friend carved a replacement for the stolen one in Kiltinan. Do you do any stone carving or is your work very different? Thanks for dropping in Seabhac