Magdalene and the Mermaids

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:30:00 +0000

After reading Elizabeth Kate Switaj’s collection of poetry Magdalene and the Mermaids, I decided I wanted to know a bit more about her. It turns out that she grew up in Seattle, spent years in Asia teaching English and traveling, lived briefly in Brooklyn, and is now back in Seattle. Movement and change and challenges to identity, which seem to be informed by her movements through the world, run through this book in addition to the themes and ideas of, you guessed it, Mary Magdalene and mermaids.

In many of the poems about mermaids, there is an idea that the speaker is out of place. The poems echo with loss and being misplaced in time or space and not quite being ready for whatever is about to happen. Frequently an image of transformation (scales falling off, tail splitting into legs) pops up and is almost always a painful one. These themes and ideas can resonate with a wide audience. Who hasn’t felt out of place or resented having to move or change?

The book and its themes are inextricably linked to women. Mentions of the moon and ancient connections to the feminine recur. Many of the poems connect with Mary Magdalene's being misunderstood and maligned. She is nearly always portrayed alone and thinking back to the crucifixion, and there is no one there to understand or empathize with her.

The poems don’t need to be read all at once in order to understand the book, but the pieces do link together. The collection of poems is powerful and strongly connected to women.

Written by: Kristin Conard, July 23rd 2009

The Secret Magdalene

admin — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 18:07:00 +0000

By Ki Longfellow

Crown Publishers

Although the daughter of a privileged affluent Jewish aristocrat, Mariamne is unable to overtly display her love of learning as females do not obtain a formal education. Thus, she secretly studies whatever she, her personal slave, Tata, or her father’s ward, Salome, can borrow books without anyone knowing. After becoming ill, she began hearing voices in her head that she assumed were prophecies even as she fully recovers from her ailment. When her father catches Salome alone with a young male guest and no escort, he becomes irate and tosses her out with nothing except the clothes that she is wearing. Though he has no evidence of violation except a nebulous guilt by association, he also accuses his daughter of the same outrageous behavior and exiles her to his brother-in-law’s house with an admonishment to never see Salome again. Instead Mariamne and Salome, dressed as men, run off to Alexandria, where they study in the library. Eventually Salome meets John the Baptizer while Mariamne finds herself attracted to Yeshu. The latter two share a love and the premonition of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Providing a female perspective to the birth, death and rebirth of Jesus, readers see a unique viewpoint from that of The Secret Magdalene. Mariamne and Salome are terrific protagonists, who, aside from a retelling of the major events in Jesus’ life, enable the audience to obtain a look at the restricted lifestyle of even a wealthy female in the Holy Land. Though the action is limited, readers who want to a wider feminist glimpse of the last days will want to read Ki Longfellow’s fascinating biblical tale.

Written by: Harriet Klausner, January 1st 2007