Another Look at Prima

Remember Sacco & Vanzetti
Remember Haymarket
Remember John Brown
Remember the slave revolts
Remember Malcolm
Remember Paracelsus
Remember Huey & Little Bobby Hutton
Remember Crazy Horse & Chief Joseph
Remember the Modoc & the Algonquin Nation
Remember Patrice Lumumba
Remember the dream of Africa
Remember Tina Modotti
Remember Makhnov & Tsvetaeva & Mayakovski, Essenin
yes, goddammit, even remember Trotsky Hey, do you remember Hypatia?
Socrates? Giordano Bruno?
Remember my buddy, Esclarmonde de Foix
Remember Seton the Cosmopolite
Remember Edward Kelly, murdered in prison Remember to take yr life back into yr hands
It's Memorial Day, remember
what you love
& do it - don't wait. Remember life hangs by a thread --
anybody's life
& then remember the poets:
Shelley & Bob Kaufman Remember Van Gogh & Pollock
Remember Amelia Earhart
Remember it's not a safe time & all the more reason
To do wholeheartedly what you have to do
Remember the women & men of Wounded Knee,
Kent State, remember where you stand:
in the midst of empire, & the Huns
are coming. Remember Vercingetorix, Max Jacob
Apollinaire & Suhrawardi, remember that all you need to remember is what you love
Remember to Marry the World


Prima is working on multiple levels with this poem. It is good to analyze it within the subjectivity of Italian culture. It is also interesting to understand the greater structure of this poem which is being, if not intentionally then within the structure itself, referred to, such as incantation and remembrance. She is using a poetic style which can be traced back to the Psalms of David in the Old Testament. Here is an example from Psalm 13:

Psalm 13
Psalm 13[af]
For the director of music. A psalm of David.

1 How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?

The effect of the incantatory method is clear: it wears the reader down, or into a mindset. This can be found again in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-11.

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The repetition of incantation lends itself to Jesus' teaching style and was apparently effective. Memorization is very common among Christian culture. This was established through the way Jesus spoke and his emphasis on remembrance. His disciples would find this to be so important that they wrote many versions of his story and teachings. This method is also used to entrance the audience, famously, in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

V
Witch 1: Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd

Witch 2: Thrice and once the hedge-pig whin'd

Witch 3: Harper cries: 'Tis time, 'tis time.

Witch 1: Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights hast thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.

All: Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Witch 2: Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

All: Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Witch 3: Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver'd in the moon's eclipse,
Nose of Turk, and Tartar's lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.

All: Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Witch 2: Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Hectate: O! well done! I commend your pains,
And every one shall share i' the gains.
And now about the cauldron sing,
Like elves and fairies in a ring,
Enchanting all that you put in.

Witch 2: By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.

This usage does not have the visual effect that the Psalm has on the page. Take into account, this usage is not meant to be read but heard by the audience as it is performed on the stage. Incantation is also echoed famously in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself which has both a vocal, musical effect, and a visual effect on the page.

Smile O voluptuous cool-breath'd earth!
Earth of the slumbering and liquid trees!
Earth of departed sunset--earth of the mountains misty-topt!
Earth of the vitreous pour of the full moon just tinged with blue!
Earth of shine and dark mottling the tide of the river!
Earth of the limpid gray of clouds brighter and clearer for my sake!
Far-swooping elbow'd earth--rich apple-blossom'd earth!
Smile, for your lover comes.

Prima refers to all these instances in literature and poetry by using this form through incantation and repetition. Yet at the same time she refers to Eastern religion and philosophy when she talks about remembrance. An example of the pervasive concept of remembrance in Eastern is The Five Remembrances. By using incantatory forms combined with the insistence of remembering, compounded by her reference to political names, in addition to her referring to Italian generational culture, she brings together Eastern and Western religion, culture, and politics. This poem by Prima is far reaching yet unifying, which reflects Beat attitudes.