Sheds of the 6 Senses

part of Curious Sensory Encounters at 7 Stages, May 2024

Sheds of the 6 Senses is created & managed by Aileen Loy,

founder of The Free Little Contentious Library, a network of banned book libraries.

PEN America’s most recent index of school book bans is here.

As one of the Librarians in the space, Skyeris read aloud to curious folks,

from banned books, erotic poetry, & Still Moving (her memoir about Long Covid).

(Catch them in the video starting at 2:04.)

They believe that stories are ways we find & love each other.

See below for their selections of reading material.

Previously or currently banned books:

You’re encouraged to read these excerpts first, before going to the explanations below.

Read aloud to yourself; read to someone else; have someone else read to you.

(For the sake of avoiding copyright infringement, the text is not shown on this site.)

Prologue of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

If you go to that famous retail site, you can read this section as part of the book’s free preview.

The first third of chapter FIVE of The Giver by Lois Lowry

This is fairly easy to find online.

Verses from Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita (part of the Mahābhārata), usually verses 4-31.

Various translations are also easy to find online. The version available at this event was Bhagavad Gita As It Is.

Part of the Librarian costume: a vintage patch, A Wrinkle in Time’s reminder about anger, 2 tributes to departed friends.

STOP WARS

DO NO HARM |§| TAKE NO SHIT

LOVE FOREVER

Explanations for the selections of previously or currently banned books:

Prologue of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Book banning, as I see it, is uncomfortably, scarily close to book burning. Both book bans & book burns are central to The Book Thief. Little did I know that, a week later, heartbreaking images would emerge of book burning happening in Palestine.

The first third of chapter FIVE of The Giver by Lois Lowry

This chapter depicts a completely natural event in human life, with a very unnatural, suppressive response. Suppression of natural emotions & reactions is one of the many ways we get disembodied & disconnected. This makes it easy to dehumanize other people.

Verses from Chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita (part of the Mahābhārata), usually verses 4-31.

This section explores the nature of the soul, the significance of death, & the importance of duty.

In other encounters, curious folks were asked, “Sex or pain?”

Depending on the answer, they were read erotic poetry or an excerpt from my memoir.

(Many people chose both.)

The poetry came from a collection of erotic poetry written by American women, originally a college project 25 years ago. I remade it into a slapdash zine for this event.

Still Moving is my searing memoir about chronic illness.

For the sake of avoiding copyright infringement, the poems are not shown on this site. However, the table of contents is listed below, as well as my introduction to the anthology. Nearly all of the poems can be found online.

Some excerpts from Still Moving are also shown. It’s available on the shelf or via online order at Charis Books & More, an independent bookstore in Atlanta. Or anywhere you buy books—all sites have it; all bookstores can order it.

Same suggestion as before –

Read aloud to yourself; read to someone else; have someone else read to you.

Rocking Horses: American Women Poets & Physical Love Poetry

edited by Skyeris, 1999 & 2024

Editor’s Note

Women by May Swenson

Although Swenson writes that women should be pedestals to men, her poem’s appearance clearly illustrates wobbly pedestals: the traditional view of women has a shaky structure. This poem held my attentionin both its words and its appearance; it significantly influenced the theme of this project. I want to challenge the Madonna-whore complex about women and sex. That standard exists not only regarding intercourse, but also expression of sexual desires and identity as well. Because women frequently do not find an accepting environment for their existence as sexual beings, I chose to include poems in this anthology that somehow expressed positive, uninhibited sexual thoughts.

An important aspect of my preparation for this anthology was the definition of “American” women poets. There is a significant difference between what is “American” and what is estadounidense (Spanish for “United States-ian”). I believe in inclusivity, so these poems are American in its most inclusive defintion—not limited to a nationality, but rather including continents.

This anthology shows various perspectives of American women poets about sex. I want to push the limits and comfort level of readers, including myself. Collections of love poetry crowd bookshelves—collections that are often a mix of sterility and heternormativity. I wanted to anthologize poems that revise and challenge the traditional definition of love poetry.

Skyeris

1999, updated 2024

Table of Contents

Eve the Fox by Paula Gunn Allen

The Rendezvous by Maxine Kumin

from The Burning of Paper Instead of Children by Adrienne Rich

Love Isn’t by Pat Parker

In Love Made Visible by May Swenson

its happenin/but you dont know abt it by Ntozake Shange

He was one of the special ones, she said by Inés Hernández-Ávila

The Ceremony of Orgasm by Alma Villanueva

Topography by Sharon Olds

(THE FLOATING POEM, UNNUMBERED) by Adrienne Rich

In Celebration by Ellen Bass

Mielvirgen by Pat Mora

First Sex by Sharon Olds

First Love by Jean Valentine

from Waking in the Dark by Adrienne Rich

The Conjugation of the Paramecium by Muriel Rukeyser

from Tanto Tiempo by Adela Alonso

After Love by Maxine Kumin

Rendezvous by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Seduction by Nikki Giovanni

excerpt from Still Moving:

As always, these times provided ample space to reflect on pain. Some people are so afraid of pain that they do any type of mental or spiritual contortion to bypass it into fiction or invention. Pain as “unreal.” Pain as “disguise.” They insist on “high vibes only” and go to spaces that promise perfect peace and ease and relaxation, with not even a brush of discomfort.

That bypassing is a lot of effort. Not to mention that plenty of your life will simply pass by, without you noticing. The human experience often brims with pain. Pain is not a sign that you’re doing life wrong. Pain is a sign you’re fully alive.

Recognizing pain, acknowledging it fully, allows for personal choice in integration and understanding. Plenty of people see their hardships as something for the best, something from their god, that it all turned out exactly as Divine Will intended. Something they would never change, even if given the chance.

I support those folks. But projecting any perspective onto everyone is harmful. I have zero desire to claim it. So, I’m in no need of reminders or advice or projections that I Just Need To Find The Good And Cultivate Gratitude. 

Did the worst of my Long Covid years also have a torrent of spiritual initiations? Unquestionably.

I no longer believe that I’m a burden to my loved ones. I don’t doubt all the love in my life.

I have altered my definitions of strength, of toughness. I’ve released my desire for (the illusion of) hyper-independence.

I recognize the poison of hiding my pain. That in my efforts to spare my loved ones from suffering, I simply brewed a giant batch of poison that I guzzled alone.

I move easily into my vibrational mind, tune in more to vibrational wisdom.

I know love cannot be destroyed. Relationships, sure, sometimes forever. But not love.