Sub Rosa / The Book of Metaphysics

Book excerpt: sub rosa: The Book of Metaphysics is a three-part interrogation of love, gender, ritual and the body. It heralds a new kind of poetic thinking, one that seeks to articulate and enact a mode of resistance to the obstinacy of present conditions, but which focuses on embodiment, tenderness and optimism. It wants to break present paths and contribute to a collective imagining of a different future; a record of and a practice towards healing. The opening sequence charts the breakdown and aftermath of a romantic relationship. The second, 'Becoming', then traces several feminine archetypes - the mother, the girl, the wild woman, the mermaid, Venus - in a critique of gender identity, summoning a lineage of strongly developed feminine ego identities in order to transcend and dissolve the individual (gendered) subject. The third sequence, entitled 'Ecstasy (Dispersal)' is then a reconstruction: a somatic and poetic (re)connection with the elements via crystal work, dance, somatics and food. Altogether, this collection is the latest installments of Lisette's engrossing attempt to develop a poetics which is more inclusive of the body, the feminine, and the performative.