Comments on: David to Abishag

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 23:54:41 +0000

Peter – One reason I remember her name is because Rilke wrote a poem about her and David that I’ve always liked. Part of the challenge of writing this piece, then, was to completely reimagine their non-coupling. Thus, for example, while Rilke’s image of her tied to and arching over him (like the female sky of Egyptian mythology) was very attractive, I pictured them, if anything, more as virgin mother and elderly child – though that language didn’t make it into the final draft, because we only see things from David’s phallocentric perspective.

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 17:58:56 +0000

I love how you save the setting until the last. It’s like paint that spills upwards and recolors the entire poem. (I would never have remembered that her name was Abishag.)

(I’m an oddball, too, though I consider you more well-rounded.)

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 19:29:42 +0000

Thanks, Dick. I feel like a real oddball sometimes, engaging with these scandalous old stories that most secular literati have long since forgotten and most religious folks would sooner ignore.

By: Dick

Dick — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 22:34:03 +0000

A rich re-telling from a rich source.