Meeting the Mad Woman
Meeting the Mad Woman featured in Anger Management 28-7-09
Meeting the Mad Woman was written on the 22-7-09
Meeting the Mad Woman belongs to the following groups:
! Creative Writing & Poetry !, "Poetry and Beautiful Women" , All Out Emotion, All Things Poetic, Artistic, Philosophical, Anger Management, Core [C.O.R.E], Creative, Talented, and Unknown, Freedom to Shine, Light In The Darkness, Live, Love, Dream: , Masterpieces: Literary Workshop, Midnight Ramblers, The Art of Pain, THE DIVINE FEMININE, The Healing Journey, The Sensual Word, THE SISTERHOOD, The true beauty, Up & Coming Writers, Who are YOU to Judge? and You're AcceptedShe is nice
She is kind
She is subtle
She is compliant
She is nurturing
She loves so much
She is sweet…
Oh the feminine beauty we all know,
we all love.
That intrinsic beauty that
belongs to women,
we revel, we indulge,
we dance in the flame of softness.
So tender, so full of delight
I love this side of others and
self…the divine feminine.
Women have throughout history been
iconized for their ability to nurture and build
relationships with family and friends,
rewarded, applauded and admired in fact.
But this is just one side of the story,
there is another that needs to be told…
and that is of the mad woman.
For every hurt that hits her heart
For every disappointment that eats her soul
For every rejection that wounds her mind
For every heart ache that shreds her sensitivity
there needs to be an expression.
For some women it comes out in tears
For others it comes in silence and disappearing
For others it comes out in bitchiness
or passive aggression that is mean.
Others become insecure and are
unable to be a sister to other women.
It comes by her dying inside and losing
touch with who she really is.
And others it comes out in illness,
losing confidence,
losing voice…
But for some it comes out in rage, pure unadulterated anger.
Why is there such a fear of anger?
Is not anger the other side of love?
Is not anger a healthy, normal emotion that
makes the blood explode with fire?
Why is it many people cringe whenever they
see a woman expressing her anger?
Why do some people run from her?
Screaming she has gone hysterical,
crazy, god forbid insane!
But no she is just angry. Passionate!
She is hurt and she has become angry.
Her pain is real. At that moment it is her truth.
It is a raw expression of her soul
Gasping to find breath,
it is her true voice finally finding expression.
Anger is as valid as her sweetness and without
owning it she is just half a woman.
Jung referred to this as a shadow side.
Our less pretty side and it was his belief
we needed to embrace and integrate our shadow
side into ourself creating light and shade.
Yin/Yang?
We need to dance with anger,
love her, hold her, embrace her with out fear
that we will be: abandoned,
rejected…left again.
She is the wild part of our soul
that is screaming to find a voice.
She is the wild woman of passion and sexuality
that longs to dance and embrace every archetype within.
In meeting the mad woman we engage the core self.
We chant to fire and burn with passion
as whole wild women.
After all isn’t anger…another view, another angle,
another lens of Passion?
And is it not passion that attracts our lovers and
creates our art and yes above all makes our
heart start!
By Anthea Slade 22-7-09
Erika .
You know Anthea, I just love how you are able to write out human truths so eloquently and beautifully. I really applaud you for being able to write out the raw, real, emotional truths in both men and women. You are never afraid to write out burning emotions and how they affect humans. This poem is simply a manifestation of your understanding of human emotions. It’s a pleasure reading your work, my friend. This is another favorite for me. :) x
Anthea Slade replied
Oh dearest Erika this is such a beautiful response to Meeting the Mad Woman. I feel from these words that you understand the essence and passion behind my words. What a wise and insightful woman you are. I have read this comment a number of times and it is an utter joy to my soul. I love how you always engage with my work on such a core level. Means so much my friend. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. Anthea x
Erika .
This piece reminds me of somethig i wrote a few days ago. Sharp Contrast
Anthea Slade replied
I will have a read of Sharp Contrast soon :) Also thank you for making this poem a favourite.
JasmineLove
Wow!!!! This is amazing…and there is a mad woman in all of us…woman share hurt and
pain…we suffer injustice…and manage to lick our wounds…but the pain remains…a profound
and powerful piece!!!! Jasmine xo
Anthea Slade replied
Oh yes Jasmine there is a mad woman in all of us. We share so much and I believe we should always support and be there for each other. I love your words and how you deeply engage with my poem. Thank you so much JasmineLove. Anthea x
Renate Dartois
Oh this awesome Anthea you are describing all of us the different emotional roller coaster we ride on in our daily live. Women get labeled a lot more either bitchy or overly sensitive etc. we have a lot on our plate many times we give and nurture a lot more than we receive we are a lot wrapped into one. We are wives mothers lovers daughters co-workers friends home makers cooks the list goes on and on so we need to find an outlet for our emotions.
Anthea Slade replied
Wow Renate I love your beautiful engagement and response to Meeting the Mad Woman. You have captured the complexity of our emotional roller coaster perfectly in your words. And you are right we do need to find a healthy outlet for our emotions – art, writing, honest communication are some ways. Repressed emotions that have no voice can come out in ways that may hurt and damage ourselves and others. Your connection to and understanding of my poetry my friend is very beautiful to me. You inspire and move me deeply with your comments dear Renate. Anthea x
Mark Ramstead
Passion is passion…
Anthea Slade replied
Yes indeed Mark. Passion is passion.
JRGarland
Anger has never been a problem with me. It’s all apart of living. Only the way many habor the anger and carry it forever that I shy away from, regardless of gender. It is an excellent write and needs to be shared with everyone. Well done.
Anthea Slade replied
JRGarland thank you for your thoughtful and honest response to Meeting the Mad Woman. You are right Anger is a healthy part of living. And it is not healthy to carry anger inside ourselves…but if anger is expressed in a honest, healthy way, I believe we are able to move through it quickly and leave it behind. But if we repress it and do not face it then it can come out in ways that are damaging for us. I really enjoyed your comment and engagement with my writing very much. This one was born quickly in a 45 minute lunch hour at work and I felt compelled to share it with my friends on RedBubble.
Cassidy JK (Ra...
This is so perfect in many ways. I absolutely agree with everything you’ve written, but would like to also add (in agreement with Mr. Garland), and maybe this is a man’s point of view (please someone correct me if I’m wrong)...anger should be felt, anger should be expressed, but it should also be released, or at least find a home within self where it doesn’t eat away the soul. Your thoughts?
Anthea Slade replied
Yes Cassidy, I agree with everything you have said here my friend. You have written it so eloquently. ‘anger should be felt, anger should be expressed, but it should be released, or find a home within self where it doesn’t eat away your souls.’ It is my belief that if anger is felt and expressed honestly and in a healthy way, it can be released quickly and it can take us to higher level of being alive. It can enable us to live with truth to self and to others and so we can feel that we are completely alive. However if, we repress the anger within ourselves and do not find ways of expressing it in a healthy manner it can linger and damage us from the inside out. I guess in Meeting the Mad Woman, I am speaking about embracing and accepting our whole self all the different sides, angles and perspectives and integrating them so we can embrace life completely seizing the day and living with joie de vivre.
Thank you for your beautiful comment Cassidy.
raymondoantonio
ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT AND WISE ANTHEA!! SO MANY TRUTHS AND MUCH UNDERSTANDING. IT IS SO TRUE, REPRESSED EMOTIONS LEAD TO ALL SORTS OFEMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL ILLS. YES WE ARE YIN AND YANG AND WE ALL HAVE ELEMENTS OF LIGHT AND DARK IN US, IT IS HOW WE BALANCE AND USE THESE FORCES WHICH MAKES US WHO WE ARE!!! HIS PIECE DESERVES A FEATURE!! BRAVO!!
Anthea Slade replied
Oh my friend Raymondo your passionate and beautiful engagement with my poem Meeting the Mad Woman is pleasure for my eyes and a joy to my heart. I feel that you understand my meaning and intention in this poem and I just want to say thank you very much for your wonderful feedback and encouragement of my art and writing. I appreciate every word you write Raymondo.
oneperfectkiss
Oh thank you so much for writing this for ALL women. Sometimes words just fail me when someone does what I couldn’t do. I truly salute you. xxxx
Anthea Slade replied
Oh dearest Jane your words mean more to me then I can ever express. Thank you for reading and relating and embracing Meeting the Mad Woman. She was born quickly and I felt compelled to share with my beautiful friends on RedBubble. Your words always encourage me my friend. Thank you so much from my heart. Anthea x
Roz McQuillan
Can’t put it better than erika! Great insightful writing, my friend!
Anthea Slade replied
Yes Erika’s comment is beautiful and I have read it a number of times. Thank you so much my dear wild friend Roz. I appreciate so much you connecting and relating to my poems. And I hope you are having a wonderful week.
bev langby
Anthea this is indeed your best i so embrace this thank u so much my matey xxxx
Anthea Slade replied
Thank you my dear friend Bev for engaging with and embracing Meeting the Mad Woman and I am absolutely thrilled that you like this poem. Anthea x
wasy35
This is a great capture of womanhood.
Anthea Slade replied
Oh thank you so much wasy35 for your beautiful comment and I am so happy that you think that I have captured womanhood.
Rhinovangogh
Hi Anthea. Nice perspective. I am a snooty Zennist trying to laugh at everything and relenquish the fear and desire that create anger in my life. I am successful to an uncertain degree, so I undertsand what you are saying. All quite natural…. cheers
Anthea Slade replied
Hi there Rhino…Zen is a wonderful perspective too. I love looking at life through multiple and many perspectives as each one sheds more light and makes this world more colourful. I love your line…successful to an uncertain degree. This made me smile and nod with recognition. Your comments are always a joy to read. Thank you for reading and engaging with Meeting the Mad Woman
Reynaldo
passion that attracts our lovers and creates our art….,excellent dear Anthea love it you are such at talented writer/artist
Anthea Slade replied
Oh thank you Rey…yes passion is a powerful life force and the essence of creativity and connection I believe. Thank you for reading and responding so beautifully to Meeting the Mad Woman. Your comments always encourage and delight me.
Del Millar
Anthea I applaud you, bravo dear you.
You are a voice of all reason for woman
You are the epitome of a woman. You epitomise womanhood.
We women are indeed passionate beings multilayered, multitasked, multitalented;
expert jugglers of momentum – planners homemakers nurturers workers;whizzes
witthin stem of love and masters of availability.
We can be pulled down, and we rise again and again and again….....
I embrace your honest free wise writing – refreshingly non engineered and full
of insight on life oxo
Anthea Slade replied
Dearest Del, your comment is just beautiful. So filled with passion, intelligence and knowing. I feel that your comment is a poem in response to my poem and you make my spirit soar with your words. I love every word you have written…’We women are indeed passionate beings, multilayered, multitasked, multitalented expert jugglers of momentum – planners homemakers nuturers, workers, whizzes within stem of love and masters of availability.’ Wow Del this is powerful and so beautiful. Thank you so very much for embracing and engaging with my Meeting the Mad Woman and this most beautiful comment. I love this. Anthea x
JonoCarrick
You have perfectly described my favourite gender.
Anthea Slade replied
Oh Jono thank you for this divinely beautiful response.
ArcadiaTempest
Yes and yes and yes…..I guess the tricky bit is if the anger from her overwhelms the sensitivity in another…so that dancing may have a need to swap who takes the lead from time to time… I do understand the passion of angry pain….it has to express or some fragile beauty in us may wither under the strain of the pull and push to break out. Stunning write…XXX
Anthea Slade replied
ArcadiaTempest thank you for your beautiful words and I do understand about how the expression of ones anger can overwhelm the sensitivity in another which means we do have to be mindful about how we express our anger and be sensitive to others. But if we find healthy ways of expressing – art, writing, dancing, honest communication, exercising, singing, etc we will protect and not hurt or invade others. I love your words and agree 100% – ‘it has to express or some fragile beauty in us may wither under the strain of the pull and push of break out.’ Wow this is just perfect and taps into the essence of Meeting the Mad Woman. Thank you so much. Anthea x
autumnwind
What a joy to read this. Brilliant, raw and honest. A truth so amazingly written. I could not stop reading and saying YES, over and over again. Bravo! love, shar xoxo
Anthea Slade replied
Oh thank you Shar for this gorgeous comment in response to my poem Meeting the Mad Woman. Thank you for reading this and relating to the essence of this poem. Your comment was a joy for my eyes. So glad you could relate and liked this poem dear Shar. Anthea x
lacewren
Dance in the flame of softness. Be pretty, make nice? Passion, from Latin = that for which we are willing to suffer. Wild = of own will, not manipulated. There is power in darkness, to imprison, but embracing our darkness empowers our escape. Carpe jugulum gets attention, but is not a make-nice facade. I’ve known many women who are de facto martyrs, believing their quiet suffering buys entrance to Heaven after. I’ve suggested to them stand up, they counter to me a tip-the-canoe rationalization. We seem duped by pairs-of-opposites, i.e. this is not that. Love and anger are not reciprocal, but complimentary, equilization within equation, a holistic wholeness we too often discount, or miscount. But then, what does a guy know about anything? Thank you for the education, Teacher.
Anthea Slade replied
Well this guy I know lacewren knows a lot about many things…and this beautiful comment is a perfect example of this. Your comments always provoke thought through their wisdom and questions, delight through the beauty of imagery and imagination and educate as after the reading the reader is taken to a new level of undersanding and looks at the world from a new perspective. Thank you Lace for all your wisdom and insight that you have shared with me me here. Your raw honesty is always a joy to read and those women that you told to stand up would have been wise to taken heed. And yes binaries bind people and get us stuck and if we stay there we are duped by a pair of opposites (so nicely put). I believe we need to sometimes break apart binaries and deconstruct fixed patterns of thoughts so a colourful array of other possibilities and ways or seeing become apparent and we are no longer slaves to a black and white world of rigid thinking but find that the world is filled with the most intense, vibrant and magnificent colours. Stunning comment lace…loved every word. Thank you.
happyfeet5
This is so beautifully, but truthfuly put. Yes, we are loving and caring and sweet and all of that. But when we we hurt we show it in many different ways. And anger is the most powerful emotion we can show. But, it is not, like you say histeria. No. Even men get angry, and yet they are not called hysterical. Thanks for sharing this powerful poem.
Anthea Slade replied
Oh thank you happyfeet5 for reading and connecting to the essence of my poem Meeting the Mad Woman. Your comment was a joy to read and anger is the most powerful felt and expressed emotion and it is completely different to hysteria. It is just a raw, deeply felt emotion that cries to be heard and if expressed in a healthy way it can transform our pain into beauty and art. That is my take on it anyway :) Loved your words so much.
Anthea Slade
Dear Vasile thank you so much for favouriting Meeting the Mad Woman.
rubyjo
wow, what a read. this is so well written and expressed. our anger is a powerful emotion and the passion of it can be healing and cleansing.
to me the opposite of love is indifference, not anger, and you describe anger as another part of love… wise woman.
Anthea Slade replied
I love your beautiful comment Rubyjo…yes anger is a powerful emotion and passion of it if expressed in open and honest way can heal us and set us free from it. I am so thrilled to receive this double feature. I am smiling now :):) Thank you.
rubyjo
Congratulations you have been featured in Anger Management
Awesome writing Anthea
Anthea Slade replied
Oh thank you for this second feature of Meeting the Mad Woman in Anger Management.
Shoaib .
WOW !!! omg anthea .. this has left me speechless… you are so freaking incredible !!
Anthea Slade replied
Oh thank you so much my friend Shoaib…this means so much coming from such a brilliant poet as you. Also thank you for the favourite of Meeting the Mad Woman.
izzybeth
Anthea, congratulations on your feature. lovely and perfect prose
Anthea Slade replied
Dear izzybeth thank you so very much for this love comment.
Anthea Slade
Dear Medusa thank you for favouriting Meeting the Mad Woman. Appreciate this my lovely friend.
Estelle O'Brien
I love this poem…and the collab with reynaldo is brilliant. Your words are so insightful and piercing. I do not deal with anger well in others (I cringe or withdraw) and am only just learning to accept it in myself. Your poem was a breath of fresh air to me. Thank you!
Anthea Slade replied
Dear Estelle thank you for your beautiful comment on my poem Meeting the Mad Woman. Anger is a difficult emotion to integrate and manage and have studied much and worked at looking at my own shadow side for many years. The honesty and truth in your beautiful comment touched my heart. Thank you so much for the favourite.