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delgaMore top 5s. Still open to requests. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
razorxrosary asked me for my top 5 poems/pieces of verse and top 5 female characters.
Things you should know: I have yet to find a collection so tightly knit together as Plath's Ariel and; the poems below are the top 5 that I've come across since going through a poetic renaissance. Thus the list doesn't include some of my obvious favourites (Plath's Lady Lazarus, Dharker's This Room, Chaucer &c).
Und dann: als wurde ihr das Feuer knapp,
nimmt sie es ganz zusamm und wirft es ab
sehr herrisch, mit hochmutiger Gebarde
und schaut: da liegt es rasend auf der Erde
und flammt noch immer und ergiebt sich nicht -
Doch sieghaft, sicher und mit einem sussen
grussenden Lacheln hebt sie ihr Gesicht
link.
I haven't actually read a lot of Rilke - I know, I know, scandalous &c. - and this was, in fact, my introduction to him. Passionate and powerful, Spanische Tänzerin deals with one of my favourite themes: dance.
Wondering how a good woman can murder
I enter the the tent of Holofernes
link.
A powerful poem about Judith murdering Holofernes, and her widowhood which led to her act of vengeance. It's a simple premise, stunningly executed. I carry the opening lines with me because that's the way my brain works.
If the west wind does not come
I'll never forgive the walls,
Or the sea, or myself.
Should my right forget
My left shall forgive,
I shall forget all water,
I shall forget my mother.
link.
I didn't know this was based on a Psalm until
noorie told me, but that doesn't detract from its power. Amichai is a masterful poet and I love everything of his that I've read, but for me this is his defining work.
Amor mío, en la hora más oscura desgrana tu risa
My love, in the darkest hour your laughter opens
link.
I had the above extract in my profile for a very long time. I love this poem; I love how simple and earnest Neruda's words are in translation; I love the rhythm of the original. The extract is easily one of my favourite selections ever.
Now I stop my ears with wax, hold fast
the memory of the song you once whispered in my ear.
Its echoes tangle like briars in my thick hair.
link.
As I said when I posted this, the more I read this poem, the more I want to step into every part of it. I have read this countless times now, and I keep coming back to it. The language is so compelling but I still can't untangle its genius. Absolutely wonderful.
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Oh MAN. This is such a PERVERSE question to ask me! In the end I chose characters that I've thought the most about. However, if this was that "fuck awesome" meme that's going around, many, many others would be listed. This list, therefore, is not exactly accurate, nor is it complete. But, top 5s are about restraint, I guess.
More people need to be watching this great, great series. Grace Hanadarko is a great cop who is also something of a fuck up. An atheist in a community of Catholics, Grace has been sent a 'Last-Chance' Angel: Earl.
What I love about Grace is how truly human her character is. Most of the time she's fucked up because she's rebelling against a god that she feels has failed her. But she's also someone who doesn't believe in the trappings of the faith she was brought up in and if she's wild it's because she's bucking against restraints. She drinks, she smokes, she cusses, she's promiscuous: and she's the hero of the show. Smart, strong, witty, driven; Grace Hanadarko may be a mess, but she's also a good person. And I love her. Saving Grace is a mix of hilarity and heart-break, and I cannot wait for the second season.
From the moment Ros was introduced, I loved her character. She is what Fiona Carter was only in theory, and whilst I think Spooks does better with female characters than 99% of shows out there, nearly all of the women in this show have been screwed over one way or another. In Ros' case it was Adam. I think that her involvement in the Yalta plotline made perfect sense, and I think that her responses were so in character. But that's another debate all together.
Ros comes off cool; she's superbly no-nonsense, easily irritated, but not without a sense of humour (you only have to see her scenes with Malcolm to see that). But what I really liked about her when we first saw her was that she was a strong female character. As I said, Spooks has a lot of them, but there was something Tessa-esque about how sharp she could be and I really felt like the show was missing that. Juliet never filled that gap properly. So, yes. Ros Myers.
I was talking to Denz as I was sorting out these meme replies and I mentioned how saddening it was to have to put Sara in 3rd place where, really, she should be in 1st. It says a lot about what happened to her character in the series, and some of the choices made for her that I can't put her higher than 3rd.
Sara Sidle was smart, she was awkward, she had a closet full of demons and she was a fighter, even through to the end of her story. That's what I loved about her: her mind was always so sharp, and her pettiness over the job promotion (s4? s5?) made so much sense to me because she worked so hard for it. Sara Sidle is one of those characters that always stays with me when I think about other female characters and ultimately, whilst I was sad to see the end of her story, it made a lot of sense to me that the desert had changed her, and that she had to grow, and that wasn't possible in Vegas. I miss her, and she will always be one of my favourites.
After all my bitching about how you can love Kate AND love Ziva, I feel a bit shameful that Ziva is on this list but Kate isn't. But I feel that Kate's story was very straightforward, and Ziva's is much more complex. Not just because canon is so batshit (with thanks to inflightdata for the link) but because of her relationship with the rest of her team.
Ziva, again, a strong persona, but someone who has led quite a confined life, I feel, and is trying to define herself. One of the things that people liked about her was her confidence (but I think that was a show in front of people she didn't know so well) and another was her sexuality (which, again, I think was initially a defence). For me, I've always been fascinated with the role she plays in Jethro's storyline, and thus also with her relationship with Ari. That decision she makes in Kill Ari, Part 2 is so early on that I think people forget it, but it's such a defining event. It's the act that puts Jethro in her debt; it's the act that separates her from her family (read: father), her culture and her home; in fact I'd go as far as saying it's the act which defines Ziva in the singular as opposed to the plural. It's the moment where she manifests as Ziva and not another Mossad officer. And it's horrible that something like that should have to define you. And that's why everything Ziva does fascinates me because it's all fall-out from this split-second decision. (Her grief, oh god. Her grief at the end of Kill Ari and then her desperation at the end of Hiatus, both are powerfully framing moments for her character. I truly believe that her need for Jethro to remember is more than a need for a substitute father; she needs someone to witness that she made this sacrifice, this great change, that she rose up from the ashes of her former self, and Jethro represents that because he's the only one who knows who she is. Because to an extent Ziva David is that woman with the gun in her hand at the end of Kill Ari and that will always be a part of her.)
Eames is easily the best female character in TV existence, even above Dana Scully (who didn't make this list if only because of the criteria I used to pick the women which was: do I have meta thoughts about them? And no, I don't have meta thoughts about Scully because I was late to that party and all I did with X-Files was watch. But to some extent Dana Scully == Alex Eames, y/y?) Eames is tireless, faithful, street-smart, capable and human. She's Bobby Goren's constant, but she also doesn't take his bullshit (the beginning of the most recent season proves that, as does the pilot to some extent. The marvel of Eames' character is that just because Goren has those magical insights into the human brain doesn't mean that Alexandra Eames isn't completely and totally his equal. She's the straight man in this twosome, and that in itself says so much about her patience and her resilience. She's wry, witty, dedicated and loyal and I think that she, of all the female characters out there, gets the most support from me because she's so viable.
There was a time (season 2-early season 3) when I was rooting heavily for Eames to stake her claim, to make herself known. But now I think that really? The beauty is that she never ever tries to do that. She's confident enough in her own abilities to not have to, and she easily acknowledges that Goren's mind is something else entirely. (In Wire in the Blood Carol often tries to say, look, I can do this too, only to get slapped down by Tony's gargantuan brain. It made Carol look stupid, even though she really never was, and that never happens to Eames because she never puts herself in a position to get bitchslapped that way by the PTB.)
Ironically, 3/5 of these choices have turned out to be blond characters. If there was a #6, I'd pick serial killer Suzie Costello or ass-kicking Kima Greggs, both of whom I love but don't talk about nearly enough.
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I still have one of razorxrosary's top 5s to answer, as well as a handful from other people. Slow going but I'm taking care with my answers, yo.
