Helen Keller at the Rodeo

To despair is to no longer have
experiences, except the idea thereof—
to be cosseted in a black cape,
immune to both sights and sounds.
It’s watching you watch the matador
taunt the bull with the veronica maneuver,
the selfsame motion of a woman of faith,
who wiped the face of Jesus while he walked
to Calvary. Lord, we all crave release,
be it at the ring in Cheyenne, Wyoming
or along Orchard Road, in Singapore.
The world is a welter of homonyms.
How does one finally arrive, get born?
I am writing your name as if I were a Trojan
who expected someone else to smooth the shore.  

—VIRGINIA KONCHAN

Auguste Rodin, DamnedWoman (Woman Lying on he rBack), c. 1884. Bronze, 20.3× 39.4× 26 cm. 

vs  Paul Richer, ‘Phase tonique.Grands mouvementstoniques’, from Paul Richer,Études Cliniques sur l’Hystéro-Épilepsie ou Grande Hystérie, Paris, 1881, 53, fig. 19. Photo: Wellcome Library, London

Cindy Sherman, “Untitled Film Stills” 1977–1980. (“Untitled Film Still #11”, “Untitled Film Still
#12”, “Untitled Film Still #26”, “Untitled Film Still #54”,“Untitled Film Still #3”, “Untitled Film Still
#59”,“Untitled Film Still #10”,“Untitled Film Stills #48”, "Untitled Film Still #17”).
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Because some or many men have committed crimes
against women, all men benefit from the consequences.
These consequences … include women giving up control
to men; putting men’s needs ahead of [our] own
through fear of annoying, bothering, or “provoking” a
man, thereby remaining incongruous with one’s own
beliefs and perceptions; and remaining “shuffling,” second-class
citizens. (Leidig 1981, pp. 104-205)