Mysteries of Small Houses

Title image meant to represent the bond between mother and child, as well as the bond between Notley's memories of the past in adulthood and childhood.

-Memories of Unending Importance-

Notley's Mysteries of Small Houses is a text that consists of memory-like poems which focus on different points of Notley’s life that influenced her greatly and stand out when she reflects on past experiences. When I asked Notley about reflecting on the past, she claimed that "certain memories or observations of mine stayed important, always came to mind if certain questions or topics were raised." Mysteries of Small Houses serves as a poetic re-collection of all of these memories and observations that remain important and relevant to Notley.

-"Gravel Gertie"-

Notley's Bold Defiance of The Stereotypical

Kiss of Fire (pg. 7)

"Gravel Gertie" seems to be representational of the woman that no woman should want to be. With the language surrounding her consisting of "eerie", "bag lady", and "dump" she is portrayed as an undesirable figure. Yet the next statement claims "she does life all by herself" which seems to be pointed out as the reason for her state. This seems to be a criticism on the view that women cannot successfully live on their own and be independent figures.

Prophet’s Job (pg. 23-24)

This piece displays a bold defiance of stereotypes for women. Claims about the refusal to carry out the duties of a housewife, the lack of want to be married, and ending the poem with, "but negative feelings of fear and despair are my angel," which presents issues of depression and dark thoughts meant to go unspoken by the mouths of women.

Gladly Though I Lost It and Knew I Would

(pg. 68-69)

This poem deals with the stereotypes of women as innocent and dainty, "untouched" by things such as drugs and drinking that are associated with the "un-pure". The phrase "girlish depths" seems to represent the deep-rooted stereotypes women are subjected to, and when they follow these expectations they remain "untouched". Yet Notley claims to not remain untouched by complicity, which essentially seems to represent that she is still impacted by the impurities surrounding her which prevents her from truly being the woman she is expected to be, essentially displaying the inability to attain this stereotype.

As Good as Anything (pg. 25-27)

As Good as Anything consists of heavy criticism almost attacking society -- the "white picket fence" lifestyle as it is portrayed to the world versus what happens behind closed doors. It critiques that this "perfect American family" expectation is unattainable and inaccurate, the real world is not so perfect. The men beat their wives, the wives are suicidal, and this lifestyle is "boring" resulting in such horrid acts as a means of entertainment for the men. Notley recognizes that this is a harsh critique by "calling herself out" in claiming, "God this is bitchy," but she expresses the critique nonetheless despite its harshness because in many ways it remains applicable and relevant to society.

New Dreams

(pg. 121-122)

This excerpt from New Dreams simplifies the complexities of womanhood and women's roles. The simple statement "She has orgasms eats sleeps writes" contains no commas to separate the tasks, presenting them with a cyclical nature containing no pause or hesitation. Is this really such a simple lifestyle when there are no breaks in-between such tasks? Even if this is what a woman does, it is not all that she is.

Place Blanche (pg. 130-131)

This poem discusses the sexualization of women in the media as well as the acceptability for men to be present in a sexual context while for women such a context is viewed in a negative light -- needing to be hidden behind closed doors. Yet their bodies can be over-sexualized in the media? This poem defies the stereotype of -- not women -- but men in positions of power, who are not viewed as strong and great leaders in this context but as hiding in the shadows partaking in sexual activity. It sexualizes men in a way, this poem, just as the images do to women.

The Obnoxious Truth (pg. 15)

The "man" mentioned here is the male teacher who told Notley she should be a pianist instead of a writer who is also mentioned in Tell Me Again, Notley's memoir focusing on her childhood memories. I personally interviewed Notley (See Into The Attic Page for full interview) and asked her about memories, the teacher, and the interconnectedness of Tell Me Again and Mysteries. She responded:

AN: I stopped playing the piano about fifty years ago! . . . I don't think of Mysteries and Tell me Again as interconnected, but I noticed when I wrote Mysteries that certain memories or observations of mine stayed important, always came to mind if certain questions or topics were raised. I think with this event -- the English teacher saying I was a better pianist than writer -- I was interested in the fact that I hadn't been affected by his saying this, I didn't believe him in fact. He himself was about to go to Berlin and try to become a writer, and I now think he felt threatened by me. I never believed any of my teachers except in relation to basic facts of the subject they were teaching. I found early on that when I wrote in a non-academic fashion I got something back from writing that I got back from nothing else. I simply saw this and as I wrote more I didn't let anyone's opinions interfere; I found what this guy said -- and certain others -- irrelevant to what I was going to do. I didn't listen to anyone until I met Ted.

-Obliterating Myself Again-

Motherhood and Pregnancy

Requiem for the First Half of Split (pg. 17)

This excerpt illustrates the love and respect Notley has for her mother. In Tell Me Again, Notley ultimately comes to the conclusion that she herself is not religious. In setting aside her own beliefs as she claims to do in this poem in order to do something to please her mother, she is showing her mother the upmost sign of love and respect for all she has done. She believes in her mother, claiming she knows best and respecting her beliefs although they did not necessarily align with her own.

A Baby is Born Out of a White Owl’s Forehead (pg. 38-39)

This poem deals with Notley's perception of motherhood and pregnancy. She describes her second pregnancy as a means of "obliterating herself again" providing quite the negative stance on the topic. Perhaps Notley is not as interested in the ideals of the pregnancy itself but in the "process she can't quite see". While interviewing Notley, she claimed, "I was always interested in why I was alive, why people were mean to each other or not, what death is. Whether love exists and what it is. Basic metaphysical questions. I went at all these questions out of myself and my experience, so then, I guess, sex, sexuality, erotic media, pregnancy, and motherhood come into play as "topics." Why was I having babies? Why did anyone have babies? ". She questions the allegiance to this process of pregnancy and why it occurs.

The Howling Saint T-Shirt (pg. 54-55)

This poem provides a different perspective than most of Notley's poems surrounding the ideals of motherhood. Rather than speaking about the frequent interruption, constant action, and alienation having children creates she speaks about her children and her worries for them. Claiming with a much more sympathetic tone that she loves her children "more than" herself which is something she normally does not seem to focus on. Although I suppose her constant anxieties and frustrations are resulting from her love for her children and need to protect them.

-"I Think You Should Write Happier Poems"-

Grief and "Dark" Topics

During Ted Berrigan's health decline, Alice Notley's poetry became darker in appearance, dealing with topics such as grief, death, and the art of losing ones self in such sorrows. In her autobiographical work "Doublings" on topics of motherhood, poetics, and marriage, Notley expresses that her favorite character from the Iliad was Cassandra, "I saw myself as unheeded female foreteller of doom, maybe at this point because Ted was dying, and my poems were foretelling it though my consciousness wasn't,". Notley is not a stranger to grief, especially after the loss of her husband as she explains in I -- Towards a Definition when claiming to have "seen" grief and recognizing its presence. In relation to her feminist stance, Notley appears to be angered by the expectation for her to write more light-hearted content. In Diversey Street, she claims to have been asked to deny her experience more than once, phrased in such a way that it expresses her offense taken by such comments as she views them as a denial of who she is and the experiences that constructed her to this point. Simply because she is a woman, she should not have to deny issues such as pain and grief. She is still human and holds the same emotions and issues as others despite her gender and expectations surrounding a composed character.

I - Towards a Definition (pg. 77)

This poem makes a statement about Notley's familiarity with grief and losing herself to it, she is not innocent and lacking in familiarity on the issue.

47th Birthday (pg. 123-124)

This poem deals with a lot of dark and even demented topics, especially since Notley focuses a lot on motherhood in her text. This seems to make the imagery she portrays even more shocking to the audience.

Diversey Street (pg. 43-44)

This excerpt deals with the opinions of society and how female poets should, "write happier poems", as they are expected to focus on and write about more positive and light-hearted things. Notley seems to take a harsh offense to this as she views it as a denial of her personal experience and all she has gone though.

-"Writing About Bodies"-

Eroticism and Sexuality

Hematite Heirloom Lives On (pg. 63-64)

This excerpt from Hematite Heirloom Lives On refers to Notley's "Special . To-Day" Collection of erotic collaged art (For more on the collection and an example of this artwork go to the Into The Attic Page). One of the things most admired in relation to Notley and her work would be her boldness and confidence in discussing things such as eroticism and sexuality which go mostly unexplored by female authors, artists, and poets. During the interview (for full interview go to Into The Attic) personally conducted with Notley, I asked about her willingness to write about such topics. She simply responded, "I think you're asking where I got my permissions. I got them from myself."

Mid-80s (pg. 86-89)

This poem focuses heavily upon issues of sexuality, society and womanhood. Notley openly discusses such topics, creating a bold statement simply due to the lack of openly-expressed female opinion in relation to erotic media and sexuality. Straight-forward statements such as "empty the glass of sexuality" or "selling it blandly for not having sex" may seem insignificant to an extent, yet Notley's confidence in stating them is what provides them with power and meaning.

-"It -- The Writing of Alette"-

References to Notley's Feminist Epic

Towards the end of Mysteries of Small Houses, Notley makes a plethora of references to her successful feminist epic, The Descent of Alette, as well as the character Alette herself. There are four poems that directly reference the epic; "Owls", "Vertical Axis", "The Tyrant", and "Alette". In "Owls", Notley references one of main symbols from the epic: Alette's similarities and relations to owls. She mentions words that most often in a literary context go unspoken in relation to women such as, "night, death, war, solitude, wisdom of course but carnivorousness," due to their dark and even terrifying nature. The poem Alette, is written in the same style as the feminist epic itself which at first makes the audience wonder if it is simply and excerpt from the text. However, the poem consists of entirely new content simply written in the style of the epic and written about similar topics of feminism and gender roles.

Owls (pg. 104-105)

Alette (pg. 110-111)

-Title Image: Google Stock Photos, Mother and Child Holding Hands-Notley, Alice. “Doublings” The Grand Permission: New Writings on Poetics and Motherhood, edited by Patricia Dienstfrey and Brenda Hillman, Wesleyan University Press, 2003, pp. 137–143.

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