Blood Water Paint

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Blood Water Paint Page 11

by Joy McCullough


  the stories passed

  from men

  to boys.

  Maybe Francesco couldn’t answer,

  too busy reciting

  his Ovid.

  Perhaps Lucretia, like yesterday

  while I was chopping onions

  for his supper.

  “Three times she tried to speak, three times desisted,

  And a fourth time, gaining courage, still couldn’t raise her eyes.

  She said: ‘Must I owe this to a Tarquin too? Must I speak,

  Speak, poor wretch, my shame from my own mouth?’”

  I may not know how to read,

  but I know how to overhear

  the stories men

  tell boys

  of women’s lives.

  “What she could, she told. The end she suppressed.

  She wept, and a blush spread over a wife’s cheeks.

  Her husband and her father forgave her being forced:

  she said: ‘I deny myself the forgiveness that you grant.’

  Then she stabbed herself with a blade she had hidden,

  And, all bloodied, fell at her father’s feet.”

  Mother whispered our stories

  in my ear.

  “Even then she took care in dying so that she fell

  With decency, that was her care even in falling.”

  The men and boys shout

  theirs at full volume.

  70.

  I am not sure you understand.

  If you go spreading this nonsense—

  Nonsense!

  You are the one who will suffer,

  not Agostino.

  He is not wrong, and yet.

  If you had a sword,

  you wouldn’t turn it on yourself.

  I am already suffering.

  And your property has been damaged.

  He sets the palette down.

  I did not send you away

  upon your mother’s death

  or any day since then.

  We will cry foul on my property

  if necessary but

  do not act as though

  you are a brush I’ve used

  and thrown away once you were worn.

  Then help me!

  All of the blame,

  all of the accusations

  will be yours to bear.

  Even if you are to be believed

  you are the one who will no longer

  be able to show her face.

  No society.

  No marriage.

  I only meant to say the words.

  What’s more, if this defines you,

  there will be no painting.

  This should not shock me.

  And yet I feel it like a blade

  upon my skin.

  And without me to paint

  how ever will you survive

  the Roman art world?

  That is hardly my concern.

  That’s your only concern!

  If you say this—

  I’ve already said it.

  Outside these walls?

  Only the slimmest

  remaining shred

  of concern for decency

  keeps me from lunging

  for the open window,

  screaming into the narrow alley,

  to echo off the paving stones,

  be carried by the creeping ivy

  into every home.

  No.

  But you mean to. You are decided.

  I weigh my next words carefully.

  He put a brush into my hands

  but never quill and parchment,

  never books.

  Words and paragraphs

  were gifts bestowed upon my brothers.

  But my mother gave me stories.

  The ones she chose to tell

  were not an accident,

  not fevered ramblings

  but the sharpest blade

  that she could leave me on her death.

  Mother believed in

  telling stories.

  71.

  The blade I’ve turned

  on my own father

  draws instant blood.

  Whatever changed his course

  —my words

  or Mother’s memory—

  he’s hurtling down

  an entirely new path

  before he’s even sure

  where he’s headed.

  If you insist on this story—

  —the truth.

  He’s still off-balance,

  a composition

  with no focal point.

  He’s all first fire;

  I want to see the end result.

  Don’t just sketch.

  Paint a masterpiece.

  The state of my purity

  on display

  for all the world to judge

  and yet

  my father is willing

  to take such action

  in my defense.

  A trial?

  He scowls.

  Trial or silence,

  make your decision.

  Agostino is no fool.

  He is already sowing his seeds.

  And finish this damn painting.

  Righteous

  Shall we finish our story tonight, love? Perhaps. But I do not want to rush these tales. You will not hear them elsewhere. You will not hear them the way I tell them.

  Others will tell you Daniel saved Susanna’s life. But hear this: Susanna used her voice. She spoke her truth. She could not expect her words to change a single heart, but neither could she be silent.

  Her words saved her life.

  Where our story picks up tonight, our young, respected leader Daniel happens on the scene and stops the crowd, inquires after Susanna’s crime. He does not take Susanna’s side immediately, but calls for more investigation before a woman’s skull is crushed.

  The necessary parties gather. Susanna waits as Daniel questions first the men.

  (Always first the men, my love.)

  This feels like justice—or at least the possibility of justice. But for Susanna, it’s nothing more than prolonged agony. When has Susanna ever seen a man rule in favor of a woman, and against two elders of standing? Most likely all Daniel does is stay Susanna’s execution, while casting light on his own wisdom.

  But at the very least, Daniel’s intervention gives Susanna a few more moments to sit and hold her sister’s hand. The sister she sent away.

  When finally Susanna is called inside Daniel’s chambers, her sister is left to wait outside. Rebecca protests, loath to leave her sister unattended again. But Susanna has faced far worse than one who seeks the truth.

  “Your honor.” She bows low.

  “Please. Speak freely.” He acts as though they are equal. And why not? He stands to lose nothing. They both understand perfectly well she will never be his equal. “I have the highest regard for your husband,” he says.

  “And for me?” It slips out before she can stop it.

  He could dismiss her then and there. Instead he smiles. “You are immensely brave, if nothing else.”

  Susanna is so brave her hands tremble at her side. But then, to be so terrified and still persist is true courage. Daniel sees all of this.

  “The way you spoke to that crowd, rocks already in their hands. You’re either brave or mad.”

  Susanna cannot stand to hold back any longer. “The truth is this: your elders threatened me if I did not disrobe and allow them their pleasures.”

  “And did you? Faced with a crowd holding stones, many w
ould proclaim their innocence.”

  Righteous anger blooms; color rises in Susanna’s cheeks. Should she show him how this accusation makes her feel and be discounted as hysterical? But if she doesn’t, how is he to know the truth?

  “They intended to violate me. To seize by force what is not theirs.”

  He nods, as though she has just explained the state of the olive harvest. “I understand. But now you are faced with a new ordeal, new violations. At worst, you will still be stoned. At best, the accusations against your virtue will continue. This won’t end here, regardless of my ruling.”

  (Though here is what he does not say: if he should rule against Susanna, send her to her death, the matter will end for her accusers. They will go on about their lives, affirmed in their right to take what they want from a woman, no matter the cost to her.)

  Susanna’s words suggest more confidence than she truly feels. “I know what I am.”

  Daniel takes that in. A report on stores of grain. “I have questioned your accusers thoroughly.”

  Susanna dies a thousand deaths in the pause that follows. He has questioned the elders. They have told their story. He upholds their version. What will become of her sister when Susanna is gone and the family honor disgraced?

  But Daniel goes on, selecting his words like a lover choosing the finest fig to bestow on his beloved. “There were . . . inconsistencies in their stories. One said your faithlessness occurred beneath an oak tree, the other said a willow.”

  Susanna’s brain scrambles to make sense of Daniel’s words. One man described an oak tree, the other a willow. And if they’d both said oak? How would that change the validity of her story?

  Exasperated, Daniel furrows his brow, speaks as though she is a child. “I’m ruling in your favor. Both elders will be stoned.”

  Susanna knows she should be grateful. He has spared her life, after all. And yet—

  “What if they’d both told the same lie?”

  Daniel is done treating her as though she is a child. Now she has exhausted his patience. “By God’s grace, justice prevails for the righteous.”

  “God’s grace? By my strength I did not let them violate me!”

  “That is my ruling, which spares your life. Next time, though? You might be more aware of who’s watching you bathe.”

  72.

  Trial or silence,

  light or shadow.

  Sharp edge that draws the eye

  or blended lines that lead off

  of the canvas.

  Lay my heart out bare

  or let it devour me

  from the inside.

  I pick up a paintbrush,

  roll it between my fingers.

  This is how I tell a story.

  Facial expressions

  and hands. But words

  have never been my friends.

  I told my story.

  As though it’s that simple.

  As though Susanna’s life

  were not at stake.

  Somehow I cannot

  lift the brush.

  The empty canvas mocks me.

  But telling a story

  in a courtroom,

  to a judge,

  to people ready

  to hear only one thing . . .

  What’s the point?

  I cannot tell if Judith agrees

  or only plays

  the other side.

  Restitution for your father?

  He’s the one to bring a case,

  girl as damaged property,

  a painting ruined in a flood.

  The court’s concerned,

  as always,

  with the men.

  What if he’s punished?

  I don’t know how Susanna

  can ask that.

  Does that change anything?

  Did it change anything for you?

  She cannot claim it did.

  Her violators’ deaths

  changed nothing

  of the stain they’d left

  upon her heart.

  But Judith never minces words.

  As long as Agostino

  walks the streets,

  he’ll keep on taking

  what he wants.

  It’s true.

  But will I be forced

  to bear the weight

  of his every choice

  from this moment on?

  You’re the one who said

  it was pointless.

  That’s not what I said.

  Here’s my real question:

  What do you hope to get out of it?

  73.

  Giulio hollers up the stairs,

  his voice singsong, delighted.

  For the briefest moment

  I think my smallest brother

  has remembered

  he has a sister

  he might cherish.

  But no.

  I descend to see

  my brothers, slack-jawed

  at the men who loom

  in our doorway

  all power and

  education and

  might.

  We’ve come to take

  Signorina Gentileschi’s testimony.

  The thought of strangers—men

  in my home without my father

  has me unmoored, stuttering and

  wordless.

  Francesco speaks for me.

  Don’t mind her

  You know how girls can be.

  The younger man winks

  at my brothers.

  Girls are trouble, no?

  Giulio puffs up.

  She just likes attention.

  The man chuckles, nods,

  and welcomes Giulio

  to the brotherhood.

  74.

  I am alone

  with two men

  who’d sooner scorn the Pope

  than validate a woman.

  My audience,

  though not the one I longed for.

  I have to pray

  the worst outcome

  will be that they don’t listen,

  they won’t see.

  I tell my story once

  and then again

  and then again.

  The men are either simple,

  or they hope to wear me down

  until I say:

  You’re right,

  this never happened.

  What am I to do

  with such a faulty brain?

  I do not oblige.

  My voice grows thin;

  my story doesn’t waver.

  I paint the blood

  they do not want to see.

  If I must bear the wounds

  then they can stand to look

  upon them for a moment.

  They’ll have the luxury

  of forgetting.

  When they have seen enough,

  I do not show them out.

  If my brothers want

  so desperately to be

  these men, then they can

  bid farewell to

  my interrogators.

  When I am sure

  the threat of tears has passed

  I step out of the kitchen.

  My brothers shuffle growing feet,

  find interest in a crack

  upon the tiles.

  They’ll never look me

  in the eye again.

  75.

  The house falls into deepest shadow.

  Tuzia never calls for dinner.

  Her absence gnaws

 
away at one last shred of hope

  I’d hoarded, one last sense

  that someone in this house

  could ever understand.

  If Tuzia failed to spread

  a meal before the hordes

  on any other evening

  my brothers would have

  pounded down the studio door,

  demanded food from me.

  They do not come.

  When finally I hear the door

  it’s Father, not the closest thing to mother

  that I’ve known since I was twelve.

  (Always just a shade

  too dark, too light,

  but close enough to sketch

  a guess at might have been.)

  Tuzia will not return.

  76.

  He cannot truly think

  I’ll be content

  with no more explanation

  for the disappearance

  of the only other woman

  in this house.

  You do not want to know.

  I do.

  He sighs.

  These last few months

  have aged him more

  than all the years

  since Mother died.

  She was paid.

  I blink, uncomprehending.

  Tuzia was paid

  to look the other way.

  Paid by who?

  He examines

  a scuff on the ground,

  finally meets my eye

  for the briefest instant.

  He can’t bear to say

  and doesn’t need to.

  I know.

  He turns to go.

  But Father—

  I won’t have her here.

  We’ll find a way

  to muddle through.

  77.

  Each time I think

  it can’t get worse

  another log is thrown

  onto the fire

  and the blaze transforms

  still more of my life

  to ashes.

  Tuzia,

  with whom I shared

  a room, a cycle,

  the burden of womanhood,

  was never going to be

  my Abra.

  My fault, perhaps?

  I wasn’t Judith,

  didn’t have the grace

  to treat her as an equal

  when it mattered.

  But why could she not see

  my disregard,

  my irritation, distance

  for what they were—

  the armor necessary to survive.

  She wore it too.

  We could have soldiered

 

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