Milli mála - 2019, Side 95
Milli mála 11/2019 95
GREGORY ALAN PHIPPS
These constructions play into select ideals of whiteness, with both
poems presenting scenes and imagery evocative of idealized feminine
figures that stand above the material world. Motifs of ascension and
elevation work in tandem with images of blonde surfaces, golden
light, and perfection. Yet these motifs also feed into portrayals of
bodily performance. In “The Moon was but a Chin of Gold,” the ap-
pearance of a full moon in the night sky conjures up images of per-
formance through the slow unveiling of a woman’s face, which hangs
in the sky as an emblem of celestial perfection. At the same time, this
implicit performance also develops aspects of a burlesque show
through impressions of the moon’s “body.” Nonetheless, the abrupt
conclusion of the poem, which hints at a sudden death, cuts off the
potentially sensual and risqué side of the performance. The represen-
tation of bodily performance is more explicit in “You’ve seen Balloons
set - Hav’nt You?” as a balloon is personifying a woman who per-
forms on a stage (likely by dancing) for an audience. The performer
apparently attempts to use her body in order to transcend physicality
and access some form of divine elevation, only to gasp for breath, trip,
stumble, and crash to her death. In both of these poems, the motifs
of blondness and gold frame aspects of feminized beauty that inter-
sect with traditional associations of blonde hair, such as purity, fragil-
ity, and angelic ascension. Then again, they also frame women’s per-
formances in relation to displays of the body. However, such displays
do not unfold through renditions of sensual or erotic exhibitionism.
Rather, they appear through impressions and fragments that intro-
duce themes of death and cessation. Taken together, the poems sug-
gest that ideals of feminine ethereality may be showcased through
physical markers (such as blondness and whiteness), but they also
imply that physical appearance and bodily performance do not lead
to presentations of a simple or cohesive version of a feminine figure as
an angelic being that rises above the material world. Rather, insofar
as this figure emerges through bodily performance, it does so in
piecemeal fragments that ultimately dissolve into moments of diffu-
sion, collapse, and mortality.
The first poem, “The Moon was but a Chin of Gold,” presents
traditional associations of blondness in relation to staged perfor-
mance. The poem could be taken as a simple reverie on nature, which