This is the one of the highlights of Your Sugar Sits Untouched, for the message and for the length. I took me a while to figure out but, being a reader of fiction, I can relate.
In many stories I've read, there is a future where men and women and equal, where world peace has been established (although not throughout the galaxy), miracle contraceptives developed, etc etc. Other authors write their own alien species who are on a higher plane of existence because of their social structure or innate abilities.
This poem is about that---creativity, why people write down their fantasies, struggle with imaginary characters whom they fall in love with. Art, as in writing, is often over-scrutinized. There are certain fantasies that are taboo today, such as the chivalrous knight (who can be interpreted as sexist and archaic). Perhaps Emilie wrestled with this contradtion---it is also easier to fantasize about a brutish, yet noble man who takes a nubile, willing maiden than a story about the union of equals. The latter is not considered as "sexy" as the former, older coupling.
This is the one of the highlights of Your Sugar Sits Untouched, for the message and for the length. I took me a while to figure out but, being a reader of fiction, I can relate.
In many stories I've read, there is a future where men and women and equal, where world peace has been established (although not throughout the galaxy), miracle contraceptives developed, etc etc. Other authors write their own alien species who are on a higher plane of existence because of their social structure or innate abilities. This poem is about that---creativity, why people write down their fantasies, struggle with imaginary characters whom they fall in love with. Art, as in writing, is often over-scrutinized. There are certain fantasies that are taboo today, such as the chivalrous knight (who can be interpreted as sexist and archaic). Perhaps Emilie wrestled with this contradtion---it is also easier to fantasize about a brutish, yet noble man who takes a nubile, willing maiden than a story about the union of equals. The latter is not considered as "sexy" as the former, older coupling.