A Non-Monogamous Manifesto
​In her poem “Wild Nights” Emily Dickinson describes a scene shrouded in mystery. As a woman, Dickinson understood the repression of female sexuality all too well. This poem starts with an elated and enthusiastic cry of “Wild nights – Wild nights!” in reference to a mysterious other that is never clarified. If the words, images and symbols of her poem were to be interpreted in a certain lens, it may give this poem more meaning and clarity. I took this poem to be about repressed sexual desire. Wild nights are never completely described in full detail, but only a hint at something that is not being fulfilled for the narrator. There is also a sense of exasperation in the poem with words such as “futile” and the repetition of “done” throughout two lines. Dickinson’s trademark use of the hyphen can be used in different ways, but in this poem it seems to indicate a longing breath or silence between the words that highlights its dramatic effect. There is a wish for an abolishing of rules, especially with the commands to do away with a compass or a chart; it is as if Dickinson wants to lose herself in this moment of ecstasy. Lastly, the image of mooring, or docking a ship into land, specifically a blessed paradise in Eden, seem to be a yearning for intimacy. Mooring has been known to be a euphemism for coupling, and I enjoyed seeing Dickinson use it in a form of gender reversal. In general, I think this poem excelled in its use of vague symbols, and in its playful structuring and imagery.
​I chose the Futurist Manifesto of Lust as my model of the manifesto that I would write largely because of the way it interacts with Dickinson’s poem. The poem seems to express a sexual desire whereas the Manifesto explicitly demands the presence of lust, and transforming it from a sin into something of a right. The Manifesto then makes the bold claim that rape is the logical conclusion of lust, especially in times of warfare, when the weary soldiers are in need of sex. There is a clumsy analogy trying to be made here between lust being a force of creation, and war being a force of destruction and death, whereas Dickinson’s poem was masterful in obscuring her sexual intent. The Futurist Manifesto speaks to an entitled masculine sexual desire, one that has continued in various forms to this day; it is not that the manifesto disgusts me, but that its principles are indeed followed in some respect. When the author of the manifesto uses “we” to address others, it is a “we” entirely engrained in the male world. This “we” does not include women, but speaks solely for men. Lust is described and reasoned through biblical imagery, through biological necessity, and lastly a need for contact with the sacred female image, which is then contradicted by a willingness to rape and conquer the female body. Though written persuasively, the Manifesto falls victim to a clamoring for male sexual fulfillment at the expense of others.
Manifesto on Non Monogamy
A non monogamous relationship is the culmination of free will and trust within a relationship, a willingness to explore the boundaries of love by sharing the body with others, and not holding our mutual lover in the confines of a monogamous relationship.
A monogamous relationship is bound in the conventions of patriarchal institutions which dictated the norms and means of female sexuality, and condemned the sexual desire both sexes or genders have for people of other sexes and genders.
A non monogamous relationship functions on the trust and open communication between both partners in order to illustrate that life is more than just one other person, and that we are not the sum of all, or omnipotent in our ability to love.
A monogamous relationship relies on insecurities about ourselves, perpetuated via masculine-fueled concepts of owning women, and a presumption that being in a relationship allows ownership over another body foreign to our own.
For these reasons and edicts, a non monogamous relationship, built on pillars of truth and communication, is the only declaration of love that can aspire for both partners to be sexual equals.
​I formatted this manifesto over the declarative form of the Futurist Manifesto on Lust, with its logical reasoning and abstract imagery. I made sure to repeat some of the necessary language as I had seen happen in the Futurist Manifesto, but I wanted to advocate for the principle of sexual equality. I made sure to include a reasonable structure that would give three lines to each of the five miniature paragraphs, and I wanted to have my final paragraph be a firm statement on the way that my manifesto will enact change.

In I felt a Funeral, in my Brain by Emily Dickinson, she is able to write about about her slow descent into madness. Emily Dickinson writes how she loses consciousness and slowly is absorbed by the darkness of her mind as she has no more control over herself.  I felt that while reading this that Emily Dickinson slowly described what it was like for her to descend into madness. With the line “Kept beating, beating, till I thought My mind was going numb” Dickinson shows how the constant effect that the madness has on her. She uses this metaphor to show how the darkness kept slowly creeping up on her and taking her over. This can be seen in the last stanza of the poem where Emily Dickinson writes “And then a plank in reason, broke And I dropped down and down–And hit a world at every plunge”. In this quote Emily Dickinson shows how she kept falling into a pit of darkness where she was standing on the edge of a plank to show her descent into becoming irrational. She shows that while standing on a plank is an insecure feeling because of how unbalanced she is, while having herself on the edge of that plank, her rationality is unbalanced as well, and in a single tip, could cause her to fall. She also states how she hits a world at every plunge, this could show how she plunges down her descent faster and faster, because of what is happening to her.

2) “Wild Nights–Wild Nights” is a poem that I can picture as one of the best nights in a life without technology or social media. This poem is clearly about a night with a loved one, spent in the outdoors. Dickinson speaks about how she doesn’t want to follow a direction–she doesn’t believe in following a compass or a map. She wants to simply just ride with her feelings and experience joy without being told that there is a right way to do so, or that there are complications in love. She simply wants to put her heart above her feelings, as she is aimlessly rowing in the sea, but she is following the direction of her heart. This is very relatable–it’s exactly how those in love approach life. They put their feelings above their reasoning, and take risks without thinking of what may happen to their dismay. This risk taking occurs when people are blinded with what seems to be more beautiful and attractive to the eye, instead of what may actually keep one safe from getting hurt. Although wild nights are supposed to be a luxury, clearly a wild night of this sort is dangerous to the human heart– it is way to prone to getting hurt if it makes reasoning go away.

3) 1) I was extremely into “Manifesto of Futurist Women.” It was a refreshing difference from Wollstonecraft’s feminist, extreme views. It illustrated how men have no reason to think they are more superior than women, and it gives a special type of importance to women who are aggressive and sort of wild. It intrigues me how a prostitute is seen in a better light than a nurse, because a prostitute’s job is to be dominant, whereas a nurse provides a service for an injured man. I love this way of thought in this time period–it makes me really think about how women have always felt as though they are only worthy of a man’s approval, up until this point in time. I believe that anyone speaking out for women’s rights and the superior characteristics of a woman is noteworthy and a woman that is truly worth celebrating. I absolutely love how this passage ends off with the idealism of a woman who must be a dominating, aggressive leader. It is nice to hear someone say that women need to be followed, since from her, men are born. However, I am confused about the fact that she said, in the beginning, that men and women are created equal. Towards the end, she wants women to assert their dominance over men–this is contradictory but I believe that her topic change is just a human thought development. I believe that as people start to think that they deserve better treatment, their thought processes lead them to finally assert that they are even better than they thought. Power is overbearing and addictive.

3) 2) I believe that women should be able to get equal pay in the office. There is no reason that men and women should be paid differently for performing the same exact tasks. We live in 2017–there is not one thing that a man can do that a woman cannot do. We are fools to allow ourselves to live in a society in which men have dominated. We have been living with this glass ceiling for decades at the very least. Think about how women have to leave their children at home, along with motherly responsibilities in order to maintain a job. They are forced to sometimes leave their children with nannies who don’t truly care for their kids. Because of this sacrifice, They should be paid way more than men. They are much more deserving.

3) 3) My manifesto mirrors the image portrayed in “Manifesto of Futurist Women.” In this manifesto, I first analyze that women and men are created equally and capable of doing the same things. I dismiss equality by saying that the glass ceiling needs to end, and then I conclude that women should be paid more than men. I conclude that women are more superior and important than men. This is just like the manifesto I read and analyzed. A problem is pointed out, equality is acknowledged, and then eventually, it’s realized that equality isn’t enough–just superiority is.

Emily Dickinson’s “Tell all the truth but tell it slant”

This poem in a funny way reminded me of a relationship and in most cases even a friendship. Someone would tell the truth but in a way that would benefit them so they wouldn’t either hurt the other person’s feelings or cause any type of trouble or argument. Hence the first two lines that read “Tell all the truth but tell it slant- Sucess in Circuit lies”. This is done because the whole truth can be hard to swallow or can catch someone by surprise. The second half of th poem talks about explaining lightening, comparing it to the truth, what you have to do in reality is  explain the truth in full but in a way of words that would not hit the person hard. You have to explain in all steps precisely in order for the whole truth to be out on the table. I do believe this poem is correct in the way it says the truth should be said, if the truth is not explained FULLY then it the truth is not really told.

Aphorisms on Futurism by Mina Loy:

The first two lines “Die in the past—–Live in the future” I think was used at the beginning for a reason. It basically sums up the whole reading. When making decisions, people tend to always think about the past and when they experienced a bad one, they tend to not make riskier decisions. I was always told to work the future and to not let anything hold you back so in a way this is what the reading summarizes. We are constantly face a man vs man battle in which as mentioned before, we tend to find not being able to move forward because we are so caught up in the past. Sometimes we need to take risks and see where it takes us. “Leap into it and it explodes with light” so basically take the chance and run with it. It gets hard but the process in order to achieve what you want to achieve you must struggle, it does not come easy. No matter how big, small,old or young, you are, you are capable of doing whatever you desire. When you put your mind into it especially your motivation, the sky is the limit. The quote that reads “Man is a slave only to his own mental lethargy.” This proves that when you restrict yourself, there is no way getting out since we are in control of your thoughts.

Example of Manifesto:

Don’t let anyone tell you your potential.

Don’t let their thoughts rule you, rule you to a point where it affects your path to your goals. Follow what you love, what you want. Explore and take advantage of every chance you face, no matter how big or small the risk may be.

You are in charge.

Define your own meaning of success and don’t ever doubt yourself in the slightest bit as that can gear you off track. Remind yourself why you started as a kicker. And remember to always  look at the past sometimes to remind you how far you have gotten and to make you more proud than ever..

This are just a couple of things I say to myself whenever things get tough. I love to read inspirational quotes to keep going and get back on track. It can be targted for anyone as words of advice whether they have someone to remind them or not.

I have to admit that this is a very strange and odd poem for me to read, but I am somehow obsessed by it. Especially its darkness and deepness. I felt a Funeral, in my Brain is a poem talked about Dickinson’s illusion in her mind and she represented it metaphorically. In the first stanza, Dickinson gave a sight of the funeral. “And Mourners to and fro Kept treading” and the sense was breaking. Then a service was keeping beating that made her mind got numb. With her soul creaked across and a Bell tolled. She plunged down to the world and end with “Finished knowing”. It is more like a nightmare of Dickinson though the whole poem. I think the nightmare is her horror to the meaningless repeating actives.  She the mourners were keeping treading and treading. And “A service” was beating and beating that made her mind went to numb. Those actives made her felt “Wrecked, solitary”. And those actives brought chaos at the same time. Her sense was breaking and collapsing. I believe the Mourners and the service represented the other human in the society. They were making noisy and doing meaningless. Dickinson chose not to the same as others but she was se sensitive that cannot tolerate. She would rather be being isolated and descent her self to the ground. At the end, her knowing was finished. She didn’t choose to be like this but that might be the best result. The funeral was for herself.

I love the part of We-speak I thought it is very inspiring. I have noticed the importance of using we in the article, I never think that before. Actually, author has mentioned it in some other place which I believe he or she considers that as very important. The author pointed that “ we, explicit or implicit, against some other they”. So we can easily feel the distance between “we” and “they”. We could group audience up and deliberately stand with audience literally. As

author mentioned later “The tone set a forward-looking ‘we’ against a predictable camp of the cowardly ‘them’, implicitly inviting the reader/listener to the side if the barve” So that the “we’ gives a typical manifesto image.

Manchester United Revive Manifesto

1878, a red devil befalls Britain the ground of football has shacked

1910, Old Trafford, the dream theater stands erect the Manchester since then the industry city has a base.

1958, Munich air disaster took 8 lives of our talented players.

But Sir. Matt Busby told the world, No we refuse to collapse.

Him and Busby Boys bring us a new trophy of European winner after 10 years.

We shell never fall down.

Then, Sir Alex Ferguson starts his years of glories.

From 1986 to 2013, 27 years,

We win 38 trophies, include the first treble of the Premier League

We knocked Liverpool off their perch.

We become the greatest football club in England.

“Football, bloody hell!”

Now, it is the time for a new chapter.

We have been rested enough since Sir. Alex gone.

José Mourinho, the special one, would take us nothing but trophy and another trophy.

Manchester United always marching

I have been keeping use we-speak to show we are the part of club. Also I use words like Always and never. I start with tell a story.

1. “They Shut Me Up In Prose”

In her poem, They Shut Me Up in Prose, Emily Dickinson discusses the constraints she faces as a writer during the Nineteenth century. ‘They’ (society) forbid her from writing freely, solely due to the fact that she is a woman. In line 2, she recounts her memories of being “a little girl… They put me in the Closet — / Because they liked me ‘still’ – “. Using the closet metaphor, she depicts the way women’s roles in society in the mid-1800s. Traditionally, girls were supposed to sit still, look pretty and not say much. They couldn’t share their own opinions and thoughts because, for the most part, they lacked a solid education compared to the boys. These girls grew up to be dependent on their husbands, barred from owning property or voting, and expected to follow outlined tasks/jobs in society. Women were virtually enslaved during this time, which this poem clearly indicates.

In the second stanza, Dickinson becomes almost rebellious as she mocks society for trying to shut her up. She states that if they “could themself have peeped – And seen my Brain – go round – They might as wise have lodged a Bird”, essentially saying that the more they try to keep her quiet, the more her mind comes up with new thoughts and idea, which “they” cannot control or access.

Overall, I find this poem powerful yet her contemptuous attitude is amusing. The metaphors she uses of the bird is also quite applicable and represents a sense of innocence and also her ability to resist or “fly away” from her imprisonment into freedom.

2. “Aphorisms on Modernism” by Mina Loy.

This particular manifesto resonated with me due to Mina Loy’s originality, bluntness, and cynical expression. The manifesto is short in length, yet rich in context In “Aphorisms on Modernism”, Loy essentially gives her own redefinition of around 17 ‘buzz’ words of the time. The thing is, instead of giving a profound explanation to these usually philosophically discussed terms, Loy blatantly states the obvious. She does so in a very intellectual and cynical way, however. By doing so, she makes the task of life seem a little less heavy. Instead of going into deep philosophical thought and having long discourse on these issues, maybe she doesn’t believe in holding back her opinion, and tell it how it is. As I was reading through the list of aphorisms, I strangely agreed with how she expressed these terms.

Some that caught my eye were: in line 1, “Modernism is a prophet crying in the wilderness that humanity is wasting its time”. This phrase reminded me of modernism today. With innovation and technology being an immense part of our culture and its future, I do think that modernism today is about improving our lives and making the most productive use of our time. Our iPhones, for instance are completing our tasks for us so we can allocate that time for other useful and more important things. Next, line 2: “Living is projecting reflections of ourselves into the consciousness of our fellows”, well if you think about it, the act of living is merely that. When I was a girl, I thought my life was a movie and everyone else was watching my little film (which sounds self-centered in retrospect…) but that’s what life is if you have a disdainful outlook on it. Line 9: “Emotion looks at life through a magnifying glass”- I think this is a really interesting metaphor for emotions. I know that when I let my emotions take over, I tend to only focus on one, minute detail, rather than looking at the big picture without the magnification. Line 14: “Morality was invented as an excuse to kill the neighbors”- this one holds truth but is simultaneously very satirical.

I believe that through her interesting style, the overall message Loy is trying to convey in this manifesto is that of not-taking-life-too-seriously. The last line discusses anxiety and I believe that this poem teaches the reader to live a life of simplicity and humor, thus avoiding anxiety and frustration that comes with it.

3. Personal Manifesto

People say that things are getting better, that it’s the 21^st-century and times are changing for women. But they’re not.

* * *

I do not want to undervalue the tremendous progress women have made in America, but if we look closely at the way our history has been recorded we can begin to understand the crucial role media has played in defining who we are.

The media can be an instrument of change, it can maintain the status quo and reflect the views of society or it can hopefully awaken people and change minds. I think it depends on who is piloting the plane.

* * *

I am now cautious of the images the media is feeding me. I view advertisement and media from a marketing perspective, not that of a gullible consumer’s. In the back of my mind I know that these huge corporate conglomerations that control television, newspapers, and magazines, operate on the focus of the bottom-line which is to get attention and make money.

* * *

We need to shift their focus from the bottom line to one of social responsibility.

I learned quickly that what’s real is the knowledge you obtain through experiences and learning, the meaningful relationships you have with everyone around you, the actions you take be become a genuinely good person.

* * *

For the future, I want us to pursue our purpose and passions in life and to understand what’s really important is who we are on the inside. Its critical that all girls grow up in a world where their voice counts, where our culture embraces them in all of their diversity, that they’re offered equal opportunity to succeed in life and that they learn not to let anyone or anything take away their power.

4. Response to my personal manifesto

My personal manifesto was inspired by similar form and vagueness that many of the writers in the manifesto packet use. I found that most of the manifesto’s leave the complete interpretation up to the reader. Thus, I have written a manifesto that is relevant and important to me, but is ambiguous enough to be interpreted in a different way by the reader.

Additionally, the format in which I wrote my manifesto is inspired by Mina Loy’s “Notes on Existence” She includes three asterisks separating each stanza/paragraph. I believe she does this is order to give the reader a moment to stop and reflect on the previous paragraph, which makes the entirety of the piece more powerful. Although my manifesto is not as powerful as any of the great writers included in this packet, I attempt to emulate that same style.

Emily Dickenson Response:

Snow Flakes, By Emily Dickenson is a story about what an observer sees during a snow storm. This person does not like snow at first, as all she wants to do is put on her slippers and leave town. As this happens, our observer cannot help her individual toes. She notes that the appendages that once had been stowed away are now beginning to fidget. This is on account of the cold as they start shaking. Toe after toe are now, “marshalled for a jig” (Emily Dickenson, Snow Flakes). Emily Dickenson describes the cold through her involuntary body movements.

There is something magical about snow and how it makes people feel, which Dickinson illuminates in her poem. Snow brings memories of joy and happiness. This is because cold, rather snow, is often associated with holidays. Regardless of religion, many gift giving holidays all seem to coincide within the winter months. The coldness of snow represents a pureness that is felt as it creeps throughout the entire body. Life is all of a sudden out of our control and our body dances. Dickenson is taking shivering, which can be viewed in a negative connotation, and is flipping it on its head. She wants to point out how important it is to be optimistic in life. When we are presented with undesirable circumstances, we have two options: we can crawl into a crevice and hide from our problems, or we can seize all our options and turn them into opportunities.

Manifesto Response:

Seeing by Wassily Kandinsky is a manifesto about the meanings behind every color. Kandinsky is known as one of the first abstract painters, and it is clear that his artwork is expressed as a driving force in his way of thinking. Kandinsky pinpoints several color weaknesses. Blue cannot stand alone while brown gets stuck. But to what can blue not stand up for and brown get stuck in? Kandinsky says, “Blue, Blue got up, got up and fell” while “fatbrown got stuck — it seamed for all eternity. It seemed. It seemed” (Wassily Kandinsky, Seeing).  He answers this based on the idea of persistence and dependence. Both colors are trying to accomplish a goal, but cannot. They need the help of one another.

This is when Kandinsky indents his manifesto to include the words, “Wider. Wider” (Wassily Kandinsky, Seeing). By using this technique, not only are we reading that we have to broaden our horizons, but we physically see it on paper. These colors have to think beyond themselves and start to think of the whole spectrum of colors. We need to take “white leap after white leap” (Wassily Kandinsky, Seeing).  These leaps, are leaps of faith on behalf of the distinct colors. Normally we think of white as naked, bleak, and empty. On the contrary, white light contains all the colors of the rainbow and this prism is unleashed when Kandinsky says, “everything begins with a crash” (Wassily Kandinsky, Seeing). The crash reflects all the colors racing out into their magnificent ROY-G-BIV presence in the world. Each color compliments one another and it is that persistence that blue and brown have that allow them to succeed.

My Manifesto:

Dribble, Dribble lost it, turned over the ball.

Shoved, yelled and looked for whistle, but didn’t get the foul.

Shots from every spot beyond the arc.

Threes bricked — could not buy a shot all night.

It seemed. It seemed.

You must shoot with confidence.

Confidence. Confidence.

And you must lock down on D.

And maybe your jumper is not falling yet, but your man isn’t scoring.

Hustle after hustle.

And after this defense even more defense.

And in this defense a steal. A layup, a miss, 0-12 fg for the night…

But you are still the leader of the team and you must see this: Confidence is

Where it is.

That’s where everything begins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

With a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . swish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I decided to base my manifesto off of Wassily Kandinsky’s Seeing. I used the same layout of his manifesto, but changed the theme. His art form is in the lens of painting. My manifesto is about basketball, and the ups and downs one can encounter during a game. There is a certain beauty I see in the flow of a basketball game. I started the manifesto much like Kandinsky’s in that colors are sometimes lacking, so too can one’s gameplay be thwarted in a game. You can be playing terribly, but all that matters is that you maintain your confidence throughout. A strategy I pulled from Kandinsky’s manifesto is his delayed solution. Nothing is going correctly for our player until the end of the game. A pure swish and the end of the game.

Out of all the Emily Dickinson poem suggestions that we had to choose from, the one that caught my attention the most was My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun (764). The reason being that I saw “gun” in the title, I’ve always been fascinated guns and weapons ever since I was little because of all the action movies that I grew up watching, so reading this poem was just like watching a movie. When the poem begins it’s kind of hard to read or understand because of the dashes that it consists, but after reviewing it over and over again, it’s clear that Emily is referring to someone taking her away at gun point it seems and how she feels stuck or helpless. As the poem progresses it sounds like she’s being taken somewhere against her will. In this case it will be to the woods and she’s trying to speak to the person that’s taking her but she’s being ignored. Later on it seems like she doesn’t know how she should feel or react, she’s not sure if she should smile. It’s kind of sad because it’s clear that she’s being kidnapped against her own will and doesn’t know what to do with herself. It kind of reminds me to a show that I just finished watching recently called “13 Reasons Why” on Netflix that has a lot of drama that compares to what’s happening in this poem. Towards the end of the poem it gets interesting because I believe that she actually has the opportunity to escape but doesn’t act upon because she doesn’t want to hurt anyone. When she states “For I have but the power to kill, Without – the power to die” it’s clear that if the opportunity of hurting someone was presented to her, she wouldn’t act upon it because if she did she’ll just hurt herself. In other words by hurting herself I think she means going against her morals.

In the Manifesto Packet, Aphorisms on Modernism by Mina Loy it kind of sounds like a negative ritual of definitions as it progresses. By that I mean that it goes on defining each term in a dark manner. For instance, when it talks about Morality it spoke out to me the most, the reason being that it says “Morality was invented as an excuse for murdering the neighbors” you can see that it’s different in the way that it tries to express a message. When it talks about “murdering the neighbors,” I think the author approaches morality in the negative sense. Thea actual definition of morality is principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. In this case killing your neighbor will obviously be a wrong or bad behavior. I also found this line interesting because it made me think of one of the ten commandments that says “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”. In other words by saying that morality was invented as an excuse for murdering the neighbors, does that mean that morality goes against one of the ten commandments? The thing that I like about this excerpt the most is that it’s real, in other words, it’s not worded in a way that seems fake or cheesy. Now a days I’ve noticed that most writers are scared to write the way that they actually want to write, so I appreciate the realness and darkness of this excerpt.

Handball

Serving is the start of an opportunity to win

Short is not hitting with effort

Long is hitting it with anger

Down is what prevents you from being successful

Point Game is a step away from what you desire

Game point is the end of all your efforts

The manifesto that I wrote above I was trying to reflect Mina Loy’s excerpt in my own way. Instead of giving definitions that were dark I tried to lightened up the mood by writing it about a sport that I’m really passionate about that is Handball. Instead of making it dark like she did in her excerpt, I did something similar and made it dramatic. Since I didn’t have definitions specifically, I used the call outs that you say in handball while playing and defined it in the way it makes me feel.

A poem that stood out to me most was “My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun.” In this poem, Dickinson personifies and describes the point-of-view of a gun. What really caught my attention was the last stanza:

Though I than He – may longer live

He longer must – than I –

For I have but the power to kill,

Without – the power to die –