DANGEROUS WOMEN A Thesis Presented to The Graduate Faculty of The University of Akron In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Fine Arts Jana R. Russ August, 2008 DANGEROUS WOMEN Jana R. Russ Thesis Approved: Accepted: _______________________________ _______________________________ Advisor Dean of the College Mary Biddinger Ronald Levant _______________________________ _______________________________ Faculty Reader Dean of the Graduate School Elton Glaser George Newkome _______________________________ _______________________________ Faculty Reader Date Donald Hassler _______________________________ Department Chair Diana Reep ii TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION I: HOME ................................................................................................................................. 1 Dangerous Women ................................................................................................................ 2 Living in the Hour of the Wolf .............................................................................................. 3 Cream City Bricks ................................................................................................................. 4 Blue Velvet ............................................................................................................................ 6 Flying Free ............................................................................................................................. 7 Letting Go .............................................................................................................................. 9 The Woman and the Wool ................................................................................................... 10 Baba's Robin ........................................................................................................................ 11 Heading for the River .......................................................................................................... 12 Poetry Class Day One .......................................................................................................... 14 Suburban Landscape ............................................................................................................ 15 La Bella Donna .................................................................................................................... 16 Metastasis ............................................................................................................................ 17 Crows in Cincinnati ............................................................................................................. 18 The Scent of Summer Peaches ............................................................................................ 19 Rain at Four A.M. .................................................................................................................. 20 Crows Again ........................................................................................................................ 21 iii Legacies ............................................................................................................................... 22 The Blue Latitudes .............................................................................................................. 24 Anyway ................................................................................................................................ 25 January in Ohio .................................................................................................................... 26 I Am Not for Wisconsin ...................................................................................................... 27 Daughter .............................................................................................................................. 28 II: DANGEROUS WOMEN................................................................................................. 29 Eve’s Side of the Story ........................................................................................................ 30 What Judith Whispered to Holofernes ................................................................................ 31 When Persephone ate the Pomegranate ............................................................................... 32 Helen’s Mother Gives Advice ............................................................................................. 33 Eurydice’s Complaint .......................................................................................................... 34 Helen’s Mother Gives Advice on Cheerleading .................................................................. 35 Circe’s Bar & Grill .............................................................................................................. 36 The Palm Reader Speaks to Cassandra ............................................................................... 37 Penelope Gives Instructions on Weaving and Men ............................................................. 38 Reflection on the Grave Goods of an Unknown Woman .................................................... 39 For Milton, a Complaint from Eve ...................................................................................... 40 Woman ................................................................................................................................ 41 III: AWAY ............................................................................................................................ 42 Copernican Moments ........................................................................................................... 43 In the Garden after Rain ...................................................................................................... 44 The Promise of Blood .......................................................................................................... 45 iv Presque Isle, Upper Peninsula, Early May .......................................................................... 46 Manzanar Relocation Camp, May 1942 .............................................................................. 47 Those Dream Houses ........................................................................................................... 48 The Clam Chowder Annual Music Reunion at Jim & Dan’s .............................................. 49 Remembering Holyhead ...................................................................................................... 50 Back to the First Draft ......................................................................................................... 51 May, in Fengdu, on the Yangzi ........................................................................................... 52 The Year of Surplus Rain .................................................................................................... 53 The White Horse of Uffington ............................................................................................ 55 Shaolin ................................................................................................................................. 56 About the Ghost of Li Bai ................................................................................................... 58 Thinking of Clouds and Rain in Xi’an ................................................................................ 59 On the High ......................................................................................................................... 60 Apples from Donji Vakuf .................................................................................................... 62 Horse Returning Mountain .................................................................................................. 63 December Evening in Tempe, Arizona ............................................................................... 64 The Dryad Fountain in Winter ............................................................................................ 65 Threes .................................................................................................................................. 66 The Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey .............................................................................. 67 Chongqing, Yangzi River .................................................................................................... 68 Beomeosa Temple, 3 A.M. .................................................................................................... 69 The House is Always White ................................................................................................ 71 Lovers Always Quarrel in Bedrooms and Parking Lots ...................................................... 72 v Dinner .................................................................................................................................. 73 The Patience of Cold Places ................................................................................................ 74 Thistles ................................................................................................................................ 75 vi I: HOME 1 Dangerous Women We knew them when we saw them, the ones our mothers warned us about, sauntering down our bare suburban afternoons, their Marilyn skirts drifting upwards, lifted by the light-fingered breeze. Oh for breasts that touched the sky