Monday, March 7, 2011

"The Copulating Lions"




It is not quite usual to write a post on a post. Generally comments are posted in lieu. However since no such written rules or precedents are in place I thought, I rather write something I felt on the post of Balachandran "So that you know how much I loved you",and his follow up observations with the bewitching verses of Richard Ebehart.

Those were powerful and glorious ode to the act of taboo. The word “taboo” is not of my volition. It is something I felt like interposing after noticing that only a few responses came by.The act of copulation is still
considered  abhorring to speak about. The poem “The lions copulating” on the great African plain brought out like in a three dimension picture the greatness of the vast continent and the majesty and dignity of those beasts.

One of the most fascinating account of Victorian social life and the intertwined hypocrisy was unleashed with subtleness and vehemence by D.H.Lawrence in “The Lady Chatterley’s Lover”. The novel depicted the amorous physical liaison between a aristocratic woman and a commoner. The book could not be openly published in the U.K. And ipso facto was banned in many countries and includes the ban in puritanical British India and followed up by independent India as well. In the late seventies and early eighties,when I was frequenting the British Council library in Thiruvananthapuram, I had frantically searched for the book but in futility. In 1982, I finally got a good print edition from a road side vendor in Connaught place, New Delhi. Reading it was different experience. The notoriety and the explicit passages were subservient to the more contrasting mind and body of human beings. It is in one's noticing and comprehension that obscenity and beauty is born.

The ruling of the court in the U.K when the publishers of the book were hauled up in the 1960’s is an enlightened example. The publishers could defend the “obscenity trial” and prove the literary merit of the novel. It was convincingly argued that the word “fuck” was certainly not lewd, and the act of physical union was only a primitive biological factor,detached from the human mind and body..

The Lions on that vast plains in the African savanna are unique examples. If bringing in  physical relationship of opposite sexes, man or beast as subjects into literature is filthy, repugnant, obscene and abhorring then it is obvious that the vast majority of men and women are indulging in the very nefarious conduct in real time. And beasts too!Quite a few of the mythical and religious classics must be banned or restricted The Gods may also be hauled up for salacious conduct.
That reminds me a contrast- a post I uploaded borrowing from a source. It was on the ubiquitous 'Lungie', and I still often see comments flowing in about the post and raving it.

Not seeing, feigning to have not noticed ,ignoring the literary value, aesthetics of imagination, and magical words in a creation as in the poems in question ,is blatant hypocrisy. I wonder if the signs of absence of comments constructive or otherwise suggests only the general conservatism of the society. The silence and closed eyes may be wicked extensions of denying what is there on the surface and beneath. The openness is found wanting.
 
We caught lions copulating on the plains
Of Africa. ….,
I pressed so hard on my 8mm. color film
I almost lost this gigantic naturalism, 

…………,
But saw the King of Beasts with his head high, 
His mane imperial, no expression on his face, 
Prodding in and out of the great female 

…………………………………….. ,
For his great face had no expression at all
While his lower being worked mechanical, 

Then he fell away, and stood off, and lay 
His full length on the ancient earth
While the lioness with a sumptuous gesture 
Rolled over as I have seen other females do

.......................................,

Stood in their historical posture of superiority 
And ambled across the limitless plains in silence
Without a thought of the lucubration of man, 
Trying to signify their big natures in empathy. 

The 'detachment' in discussion is worth some deep pondering! :-)
I can only see the majesty of the beasts and the incomparable vastness and feel of the great African savanna. The act of copulation is secondary to the imperiousness of nature.And also with the subtle depiction of the  act and the vastness of time around one should be in sublime mood..
And as in the poem  "So that you know how much I loved you"

“Yet I wonder, what is it that I loved in you?
Was it the person or the persona, the mind or the body,
That I had desired more; maybe both, maybe it is that
I wanted it all, with such a hunger, such an appetite…”
“…………………………………….,
So that I bled you, my sweat stank of you
My lips and yours one
My spittle and yours one......
.
Unfortunately candid expressions are frowned or shooed underneath. Surreptitious or false notions stand out as moral values. They are like the cloak that suppresses forthright feelings.

However there were a few comments that sensed the depth of the words. Whether the detachment which is instilled in the male species as mentioned by Bindu, or the words of discernment of the Doc and other couple of bloggers, it can be seen that there are people who have the right senses to appreciate the magical words and thereby ideas and imaginations laced in works of literature and consign hypocrisy to places it richly deserves.

“Like the feline with eyes closed
Lapping up milk in stealth
I fornicated day and night
All the while I comforted in the belief,
When my eyes were closed the world seldom saw
My act of promiscuity ”.

10 comments:

Balachandran V said...

"I can only see the majesty of the beasts and the incomparable vastness and feel of the great African savanna. The act of copulation is secondary to the imperiousness of nature.And also with the subtle depiction of the act and the vastness of time around one should be in sublime mood.."

10 years ago when i went trekking to Kailas & Manasarovar, out of the 24 of our group, not more 5 o6 could've felt the spiritual connection with that great mountain and the landscape. The rest were all the time doing everything other than looking around. Similarly, one cannot hope that the majority would think like the minority. One does not write - either in the blog or elsewhere, to please the majority. One writes, because one has to. Like the late Mallory said, 'I climb Everest, because it is there!

Insignia said...

Anil,

Absence of comments - either Balan's poem was so power packed that readers lost words :-) or as you said it was a taboo.

There are very few of us who try to unearth the hidden treasure and experience the joy thats obvious but not realized by the majority.

If we have to discuss about the 'taboo' part; people do indulge in the so called taboo but are afraid to speak about it

dr.antony said...

Anil,
It was good of you to write on that post.That post deserves it.What a better way to appreciate a post!
Me too,remember the havoc on that DH L book.The same applied to Nana by Emile Zola.I think more people would have read those books,because they were banned.

All good things life are prohibited.Isnt it funny. We love to have sex,but have placed too many restrictions on it.We are afraid to talk about sex,but secretly enjoy listening. We like to drink,but it is prohibited. And some like to smoke,that is all the more prohibited too.
The best way to make something more attractive is to prohibit the use of it.The same way,we made a taboo of sex.
Would you rather run six and a half miles over the course of a month or have sex 12 times a month? Go for the sex…it burns about 800 calories for an average person whereas the running will only burn about 480 !

Something we all love (or should love) to do is actually good for you! Sex therapists say sex acts on the principal of "use it or lose it." So, for your heart, mind, and soul, the best advice may be to "Just do it!" . Write about it,think about it,and fantacize. There is nothing wrong in it.If someone asks you,just tell them, it is" recommended by a doctor "

Have sexier days ahead !

anilkurup59 said...

@ Balan,
You may be contradicting yourself some what towards the end of your comment. Well leaving apart that, the Post I posted is not in anguish or an irritant at the sparse comments.
The fact as you mentioned is that people live with closed eyes.
For such gentry what if a bloke went up the Everest. It will be like Jack goin up the hill....

anilkurup59 said...

@ Insignia,
Your Blog , and Balan's are the few Blogs which I frequent that usually attract comments .
As Balan said one writes for oneself the comments are incidental.

I honestly think that the idea of "immaculate conception", virgin births must be a concept that may be promoted . And ban the physical act. Why the trouble.? Then guillotine the ones who rave about the beauty of physical union.

anilkurup59 said...

@ Doc,

Thanks doc you understood the feeling behind the post.
Again I must emphasise apart from all the medical advantages and benefits that come with the physical act , the magnificence of the act itself,that get enhanced in the nimbus of the protagonist, be it the lions or the ones in Balan's poem. Think of that.

dr.antony said...

@Anil,
The latter part of it,I just wrote it as a joke.
Partly fun,however it is true.But isnt it good to know that such an intimate and cherishable act,contains the secret to a healthier life? That will help to remove the taboos on sex.

But I dont see any change in attitudes even these days.The other day I was rushing from the clinic,to go home early.I saw this young man who is a salesman at the store running behind me.I paused to ask him and he said in a muffled voice"it is about my activity, not good these days".He was reluctant even to use the word sex,though desperate about it.I was at the corridor,and told him that we would sort it out after I came back from vacation.

anilkurup59 said...

@ doc antony,

haha I understand.

Like an apple a day keeps the doc away.....!
May be Balan can think about another dose of poem on this Ha ha.
It is hypocrisy doc and lack of guts to accept the intrinsic chemistry of man and animal.
Here is an interesting quote to the missionary folks ( meaning the ones for whom copulation is taboo)

"But the act, called the sexual act, is not for the depositing of seed. It is for leaping off into the unknown, as from a cliff's edge, like Sappho into the sea."
— D.H. Lawrence

Insignia said...

anil,

:-) Why dont few of us promote the concept of virgin birth? and rake some moolah out of it :-P

On a serious note, I forgot to mention about "The Lady Chatterly's Lover". I waited until I reached 25 to read the book :-) Having read about its explicit content few times; I thought it was prudent to wait until I was sure I could handle the verses in there :)

anilkurup59 said...

@ insignia,

ha ha serious thought indeed!'Virgin births'. What is also as you may know called in zoological parlance "parthenogenesis".

Yes you are right about the plots like in Lady Chatterley's lover. The age matters to comprehend. But in the early teens it was curious excitement to get hold of the book.