Dear Jean Rhys

Dear Jean Rhys,

You gave a voice to someone sad and alone,

You explained the reason for her perceived caprice,

For she was meant to be the ‘mad old crone’.

You wrote that the cockerel crowed,

And that the reds marooned—

This woman’s back story was owed!

What treasons left her with her wound?

She was more than a story’s prop,

She was more than a tale,

She was more than another’s backdrop,

She was more than insane or frail.

She was Antoinette Cosway—

A creole heiress, slumped and caught

In a world of patriarchy, without her voice to say,

And left not to speak a single truth that she had thought.

You wrote her story,

A voice, more than a tale’s thread.

You gave to Antoinette Cosway,

A sadness to her end;

But still, to her glory,

Instead of Brontë grey,

You made her Sargasso red,

So thank you, from one who read.

***

Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea was an inspirational book to read when I was. Personally, more enjoyable than Jane Eyre ;)