110 • Niger
Adrift on the old river Niger,
Just me and the prophet Elijah
And a Woman in White
Who likes watching men fight –
So we take it in turns to oblige her.
Some ‘Sunday fools’ still believe spirits move among us, and a few, perhaps, suppose that they’re prepared to conspire with mortals in illogical, Lawrentian pacts. But what we’re really investigating here is the troubling, antiquated trope of Objectified Woman as Muse. Perhaps she is a spirit too?
2 thoughts on “110 • Niger”
This seems heady with symbolism. Yet how do two men take it in turns to fight? Perhaps this is the heart of the mystery.
Hi Jason,
How indeed? And that is not the only barrier to comprehension, or to verisimilitude, that the rhyme seeks to offer.
If it’s pregnant with symbolism, perhaps Wilkie Collins or Joseph Conrad could be cited among the possible fathers?
Best,
Rick