OMINOUS MUSINGS
Entry for Clytemnestra Remash Challenge
Poem by : Sara Miller-Hornick
The picador of Dubyaville
lifts his portent lance
The serpent frequently eats its tail
to perpetuate cyclic dance.
Banana oil excuses
spew from bourgeois gates
From the crowd a commoner watches
as government controls the fates
Empty pockets are his flags,
blood his crimson cape.
The question is who will win this round?
Will the bull perish or escape?
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To portray the Messenger of Death, or a bad omen, in a modern context, I wrote the poem above tying in themes from the Great Depression and the current economic recession. Inspired by the image of the stock market bull (which represents a strong and healthy market) under attack, I chose to include references to both a bullfight and the 1930s. “Picador” refers to a special type of matador that uses a lance, or long stick to control a bull during the bullfight. I liked the fact that the lance mirrored the Messenger of Death’s staff, and decided to include it in the choreography. However, the picador in the modern context uses money to manipulate the bull. Dubyaville (Dubya as in George W Bush) is a modern day reference to Hooverville, a shantytown named after President Herbert Hoover (1929-1933), built by homeless men during the Great Depression. Another reference to the Great Depression is the phrase “banana oil” which in the 1930’s was slang for “ridiculous” or “nonsensical” but also alludes to the crude oil crisis we are experiencing today. Foreshadowing this phrase, the poem references the cyclical nature of history (in the form of a snake eating its tail), and shows that despite the passage of time, these themes are all interconnected. Thus, with the addition of some text, a dance choreographed by Martha Graham in 1958, becomes relevant, more than 50 years later, in 2009.
(Please note that express permission was granted from Arturo Dimodica to use The Charging Bull ©1984 in this video)
