the screaming pope (thanks to francis bacon). a poem by suzanne vega. the passionate eye, page 190. a painting by bacon, hanging in solitude on a big white museum wall. i witness his silent scream. he's caged. he's isolated up there on his throne. and he's as dry as his cry. "no words. he has no words. that's why he screams".
he's on a chair and when i look at him we smile shyly at each other. "when blood sees blood of its own, it sings to see itself again". but this is a split song, cut into pieces. and his body is split too. "see his eyes getting colder as the pictures go". it feels as if we're strangers meeting for the first time. there's shame, guilt and anger in his look. and he doesn't need to open his mouth for me to know that he's screaming inside. he's lonely. and he's so afraid. "and my question to you is: how did this come to pass?" he has no words. i have no words. we're as dry as our helplessnesses. that's why we scream, in silence.

Dearest Fatima..

Thank you for sharing this. As so much of your writing, this is also one little pearl I will add to the chain around my neck. A chain who carries magic pieces of words. You have quite a collection there, Fatima.

You always had the gift of translating you deepest feelings, whether it is sorrow, curiosity, frustration, helplesness, happiness or any vague emotinal feeling deep under the skin, into words. You bring your feelings out so eloquently that it is breathtaking.

Thank you for that.
Your post brought tears to my eyes. I truly hope things in a mysterious way will get better.
I am thinking of you!

Love,
Miriam
:-)

---

... By ThE mOoNs Of JuPiTeR ...

Isn't there an old Greek legend about soul mates being like conjoined twins... two people with one body, that are split and then sent down to Earth as individuals?

That line "One body split and passed along the line from the shoulder to the hip"

It says something about genetics... about half your chromosomes coming from one parent... but it seems to me it speaks more to that greek myth about soul mates who really would have been cut apart, shoulder to hip.

Didn't Suzanne write this song when she finally met her biological father? And that she was awed by the resemblences with herself?

The Greek myth is about....Apollo and Artemis I believe? I'm not sure. Looking it up right now.

The one with spikes asked:
"Didn't Suzanne write this song when she finally met her biological father? And that she was awed by the resemblences with herself?

Well, After she had "found" her father and had communicated with him on the phone, he sent her some family pictures. The pictures included photos of him, his mother (Suzanne's grandmother that was a drummer), and other members of the family, like uncles and aunts, etc. As it turned out, the individual that she looked at and said "Surely, this man here must be my father, I look so much like him" (my paraphrase), happened to be her uncle. Her father turned out to be the more rotund fellow in the photos. However his hair was the color that her's was in her youth.

What's the deal? Did she ever actually meet the man in person? Are they still friendly?

as uncwilly mentioned before here, this song was written after some photograph(s) suzanne saw of a relative (an uncle) who had died and whom she had never met. and yet, she could recognize herself in him or see him in her ("i know these bones as being mine/and the curving of the lip").

and, once again (see my post on the "in liverpool" thread) that recognition is made through the body ("when blood sees blood/of its own/it sings to see itself again/it sings to hear the voice it's known/it sings to recognize the face") and the history or the story that body tells ("did he carry his bad luck upon his back?/that bad luck we've all come to know").

love,
fátima

I'd often wondered about this song - thinking there must be some such connection. In the last couple of years I traced my own parents (though neither wanted contact) and often thought of these lyrics. 'the story that repeats' - it's often the case (certainly in mine) that patterns of separation move from one generation to another.
There are some beautiful Gnostic/early christian myths that relate stories of Christ to the separation of blood and spirit - and then the ongoing process of 'remarrying' within oneself!
Which I think the song implies?