“Study of Two Figures (Pasiphaë/Sado)” by faculty member Monica Youn
An excerpt from “Study of Two Figures (Pasiphaë/Sado)” by faculty member Monica Youn in Poetry.
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Study of Two Figures (Pasiphaë/Sado)
One figure is female, the other is male.
Both are contained.
One figure is mythical, the other historical.
To the extent that one can be said to have existed at all, they occupy different millennia, different continents.
But, to the extent that one can be said to have existed at all, both figures are considered Asian—one from Colchis, one from Korea.
To mention the Asianness of the figures creates a “racial marker” in the poem.
This means that the poem can no longer pass as a white poem, that different people can be expected to read the poem, that they can be expected to read the poem in different ways.
To mention the Asianness of the figures is also to mention, by implication, the Asianness of the poet.
Revealing a racial marker in a poem is like revealing a gun in a story or like revealing a nipple in a dance.
