( ᵃˡˡ ʰᵃⁱˡ! ) 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑴𝑨𝒀𝑸𝑼𝑬

¹   posies,   not  actually  flowers  but  small  bouquets.     is  that  what  you’ll  be  when  i’m  done  with  you   ?     :       wrapped up  in  kudzu  -  silk     &     reddened  as  a  tomato,       your  organs  oh  -  so  -  oooozing  like  honeysuckle   ?

𝐒𝐇𝐄'𝐒     (    I’ve.    )     𝐆𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐅𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐏.          swamp  water  turns  clear  when  she  steps  through  it,       mother  -  earth  treading  on  water     &     mud  as  if    ＣＨＲＩＳＴ!     herself       –––––––       faerie  queen  spreads  her  mossy  wings       &       weeps  tears  of  devil’s  ivy,       verdant    [   faux   ]    vulnerability  soaking  through  her  fingers,     through  the  pores  of  her  skin,       creeping  its’  way  to  the  divine  flesh  of    WOMANLY  WONDER     !!                       ᴴᵉ'ˡˡ ᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᵗᵒ ˢᵃᵛᵉ ʸᵒᵘ,      if  only  to  see  her       вєℓσν’∂  вαт      once  more;          mouth  parts,     a  deep  exhale       &       then:

                               SEE  HERE     :                                her  skin  pulsates  underneath  vine and mud                                                       mixture,      flesh  turning  red  from  pressure     &                                she  groans  underneath  her  breath,       pain  to

          PRESS      ,      THROUGH.

𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄. 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐘. 𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐍 –––– 𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 & 𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐋𝐓.         no  one  comes  to  visit  her,        pre  -  apple   -   eve  with  a  blossoming  womb,       pregnant  with  perennials       &         rearing  Rudbeckia hirta¹    in  her  mouth.

¹    my own birth of black - eyed susan, the eye of my darling shooting pistons sharp as nails  –– with a poison that spreads faster than you can believe.   searing pain, foam in the bones,  you know the whole ordeal!

she  is  hungry  once  more,     mother  -  earth  starved  angrily  of  human  -  fertilizer  until  She  becomes  volatile     &    rash.         She  rests  besides  her  own  autonomy,      the  sound  of  plant  cries     &     begs  breaking  up  her  thoughts  into  pieces,     until  she  can  no  longer  grasp  onto  them.                    (           SHE  COOS  AT  HER  PLANTS  AS  IF  THEY  ARE  HER  CHILDREN,     CLAWING     &     CRAWLING  TOWARDS  HER,     READY  TO  SUCKLE  ONTO  GREEN  -  TINT  FINGERS.          )                   a  sweet  bit  of  Solanum dulcamara¹  reach  her  hands  first,       (   𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭   )    plant  -  mouth  opening     &     curling  around  her  index  finger.         She  turns  to  Him,       a  red  smile  on  her  lips.

¹    also known as fellenwort,  bittersweet nightshade –– but still poisonous to humans and livestock.   too many can kill you,    but it makes a pleasant potion for fondness!   whaddya know,  ˡᵒᵛᵉ ᵈᵒᵉˢ ᵏⁱˡˡ. 

she  is  an  (un)woman  of  the  world,      her  feet  bare         &         caked  with  outside  -  dirt  from  her  sanctuary.         She  splits  the  ground  into  two,         𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐲  to  sprout  in  the  footsteps  she  leaves,         a  piece  of     HER EDEN     to  follow  her  like  servants  following  their  queen.                     (        TITANIA,        THEY  CALL  HER  A  NEW  -  EVE,      META - MORPHOSIS IN  BETWEEN  HER  TOES    &    LUNGS.          )   

                                           ❝       𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐒 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐘   ?         ❞           jaw  goes  slack,     tongue  clicking  against  the  pink  roof  of  her  mouth.         a  glance  is  given  to  her  surroundings   :     cold,    hard,    undeserving.       /      @promethian

"[t]he grotesque body is the open, protruding, extended, secreting body, the body of becoming, process, and change" - the feminist grotesque: risk, excess, and modernity      /    in which the female body is the expression of the grotesque through pregnancy - “becoming” is ugly, unwanted.

"The grotesque body is above all the female body, the maternal body, which, through menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and lactation, participates uniquely in the carnivalesque drama of “becoming,” of inside-out and outside-in, death-in-life and life-in-death" - the unruly woman: gender and the genres of laughter

and this issue of being “grotesque” is even deeper when one is black. my portrayal of ivy is Black (+ indian). while the above applies to white women - how their (female) body is in opposition to the ‘classical’ body which “privileges the ‘upper stratum’” (the eyes, the mind, the faculties of reason), “, this is not static and not all female bodies are engaged equally as grotesque, as disruptive.” (taken from the blog of my school’s alum, which you should all read.) in fact, this white supremacist places certain bodies closer to grotesque, while white bodies are seen as ‘classical,’ which allows for racist thinking towards and about the [Black] female body.

ivy is not a villain, nor will i speak of her as such. she is struggling with trauma that has been inflicted upon her, as well as a disassociation between the body and her experiences. she wishes for nothing more than to (help plants) reclaim the earth

her MAIN ARC revolves around these attempts. she lives in a greenhouse, spending time between a home she was allowed (by batman.) in gotham & another greenhouse in [unknown location]. she still commits crimes, she still shows no mercy when killing people. she focuses on torturing the other, making them feel remorse for what they’ve done, before ending their lives.

plants growing from her hurts. it’s a process full of dull pain, with literal plant matter running through and underneath her skin, pushing up through her pores and out into the open. plant horror is abundant here.

earth domination is her main goal for this reason: her body is decaying, and when her time comes, she will become the same as the earth (return from where she first came kinda shit). her life mission she feels is to destroy humanity to give plant-life (her afterlife) a safe haven.

she goes by many names, and is referred to as such by either legends about her or otherwise: the may queen, titania, mother earth, eden, eve, saint ivy, etc. note that many of them have religious connotations to them, and this is because she is worshipped as a god(dess) over the earth. she is the literal incarnation of mother earth, of gaia. she is primordial, though she is not. she believes herself to be divine.

she does not remember herself as pamela isley. she often does not respond to the name, and she gets irritated when one calls her by that name. that identity is no longer her, and she has shed it like a snake sheds its outer skin. a metamorphosis that is not yet complete, though it has begun and continues to begin. when called pamela, she will immediately correct the other person until she becomes angry and violatile.