Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? Well, I actually wrote this poem over thirty years ago, so there’s no way I’ll be able to take you through the process step-by-step.
That being said, I can say I was studying for my MFA in the low residency program at Vermont College when I wrote it. If memory serves me, my advisor at the time was the late Lynda Hull, a great person and poet who did so much to encourage me during those early years in my writing life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynda_Hull
Regarding the idea for the poem, that is part of a lifelong conversation I’ve had with myself about religion, specifically, the faith in which I was raised, Roman Catholicism, and the ways it vilifies the body in favour of the “spirit,” (whatever that may be).
A great part of that vilification is thrown at the feet of women. Lilith is despised for not wanting to submit to Adam’s dictates. Eve ate the apple and tempted Adam to do the same. Delilah betrayed Samson’s trust. Bathsheba is blamed for exciting David’s lust. There’s Jezebel. The list goes on. Women are consistently portrayed as temptresses who should cover their bodies and their hair so men don’t have to struggle with those temptations. Mostly, the only thing women are valued for is their ability to give men sons.
So one of my goals then (and even to this day) is to revise biblical myths and, specifically, Catholic versions of those myths, to say nothing of the all the strange stories told about saints, etc.. And this, of course, goes beyond rethinking the roles of women in religion and history in general. I’m interested in turning a lot of what I consider to be backward thinking on its head.
So…
It’s not a well-kept secret that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a prime example of trying to keep women in positions of subservience. As her story is told in the Bible, Mary is a young woman visited by an angel who tells her she will give birth to a son who will take the throne of David and whose kingdom will never end.
Now, any girl in her right mind would have been appalled by such a proposition. But there she is. Meek. Mild. Docile. An angel appears to her, tells her what god has in mind, and, though she does wonder how it could come to pass, since she is a virgin, the angel’s strange answer (“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.”) suffices and she immediately submits with her Fiat (“Be it done unto me”), like a “good girl.”
Rubbish.
In my version (which is the poem’s perspective) the angel doesn’t appear a single time. Instead, he pesters Mary repeatedly, tempting her with what amounts to a bunch of parlour tricks. Rather than feeling blessed, Mary finds these visits vexing. In the end, the angel forces himself upon her, revealing a sinister turn of events far different from what is normally proposed.
Finally, I’ll confess at the time of writing “The Grace of Conversion,” I had no idea what ekphrasis was. If I had, I might have credited the Pre-Raphaelite painter, Edward Reginald Frampton’s (“The Annunciation”) (BELOW) as providing a good deal of inspiration for the poem’s movement.
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail. I was definitely in Ohio. I would most likely have been in my study in a home I moved from decades ago. It wasn’t a particularly interesting space, but I do recall I had windows facing north and east, a lot of bookcases, my computer, a printer, and a recliner.
What month and year did you start writing this poem? I have no idea what month it might have been. I can give you a “circa” of 1988 or 1989.
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us? I am, and have always been, an avid reviser, so I know there would have been multiple drafts of the poem. That being said, I’m also a minimalist, part of which prompts me not to hold onto things. At the time, all my poems began in notebooks where I wrote by hand until I had a pretty solid rough draft. Only then would I move to my computer. So there would have been multiple versions of the poem, but I would never save them, which is probably a good thing as my rough drafts put a lot of emphasis on “rough.” It could prove highly embarrassing to keep such things around!
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? This goes back to my goal of revising the religious myths I was raised with. I would hope a reader would take from the poem a different perspective on Mary. One where she is smart enough to know what sorts of problems accepting the angel’s “offer” would cause and not wanting to go there. Instead of seeing her as compliant and, honestly, rather gullible, I want readers to think of her as a wise, strong, and independent person, not a prop…a vessel for a male deity’s own agenda.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why? Honestly, the whole thing would have been emotional on some level because I really am incensed by so many of these myths, but, of course, when the angel forces himself on Mary, that’s where things get harder to deal with.
http://ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/mhauke_maryfem_july05.asp
Has this poem been published? And if so where? Yes. It originally appeared in the Winter 1990 issue of The Indiana Review. Subsequently, it was published in my first book, The Rapture of Matter (Cleveland State University Press, 1990) and, most recently, in the anthology, Wild Gods: The Ecstatic in Contemporary Poetry and Prose (Minnesota: New Rivers Press, 2021).
https://www.spdbooks.org/Products/9780898234046/wild-gods.aspx?src=NEWR%20
Frank Paino’s poems have appeared in a variety of literary publications, including: Crab Orchard Review, Catamaran, North American Review, World Literature Today, Gettysburg Review, Prairie Schooner, The Briar Cliff Review, Lake Effect and a number of anthologies.
His third book, Obscura, was published by Orison Books in 2020. His first two volumes of poetry, The Rapture of Matter and Out of Eden were published by Cleveland State University Press. Frank has received a Pushcart Prize, The Cleveland Arts Prize in Literature, and an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. His website is: https://www.frankpaino.net
Most of the BACKSTORY OF THE POEM links can be found at the very end of the below feature: http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2021/02/will-justice-drakes-intercession-is-251.html