MARTYRS
Sometimes I imagine I'm sitting with
that old schizophrenic cross-dresser Joan of Arc
and we're discussing what drives people
to lead others and what happens when you
lose that old charisma. She's not Jewish
and doesn't quite understand
why I am blaming her
for not getting through the witch trial.
She even tries using those cliches of Shaw on me.
"You gotta live with the people in the madhouse you're in --
wear what they wear, Joan,
I say, "And deny everything -
that's my motto. In the country of the deaf,
just say you're don't hear nothing.
Karen Alkalay-Gut
From The Love of Clothes and Nakedness (Sivan, 1999, 2003)