TRANSCRIPTION of Sea Queens (2008) written by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Christine Pratt
Joy [pray don’t be a prat about my joy][reading level: ages 9-12] [reading levels]
“They [Pirates] pillaged [pill-aged--many pills ravage a face] and murdered [archaic:
murthered; recalls: mothered; suggests: an infant when in fact some other invention known
as vengeance or at least to score more vin (vi-no?). To rewrite fertility through proliferation
in the storage womb] and sank many ships. Even the women [level them out]. Especially the
women.” (3)
“Treasures. Are you thinking chests [chests that sink deep down in thought and thus are
substantial? the more-than of chests] [. . .] Are you thinking caskets [are you a casket for a
thinner king? A frame in which kingliness might (decom)pose? Gleam, do gleam] [. . .] More
likely [. . .] bales of cotton [caught on] or silk, barrels of tobacco or apples [a pulse barrels out
of a wrist], sails, extra rope, salt pork, rum, carpenter tools, goats, chickens [no Czech kin]--
or slaves. And the enemy ship as well.” (5)
“the hempen halter they deserved [the hemp halter served to hold her in, to think her chest
into one complete thought, halting a display] [halter the animal] [halter (on) a woman]
[strapped for] [stripped of] [strip]” (5)
“pirating was considered a craft [is a ship, is a skill-needing art, is a raft on which to set sail a new seeing (the c [sea] [ci, ci!] a raft needs)]” (10)
“Left with only the Fury [. . .] he scuttled the Fury [Left with only the Fur, he cuddled the
Fur.] [Left with only Fur, he doodled to Further the Animal.] [Lest we only Firm, he (catered
in Fudge / scattered the Pudge).]” (53-54)
[Famed Woman Pyrate] Mary Read’s grandmother “allowed a Crown a Week for its [a her
and a his] maintenance [man-pretense]. [Mary Read has no Reed (read: Penis; read: Man-Oar
[‘where are your manners’ ‘where are your manners’ ‘inflected’ ‘infected’ ‘affected’]) but reads
as a He by her mother’s (Design / Deceit [by her knowing the Signs by which a Pete is
Mister-ed and Sir-ed (Served vs. Serfed)]).]” (64)
“1720 started off a very bad year for the Vanity” (68)
from PLAN/K
“a mental world [. . .] its boundary the skull” (Hugh Kenner)
Sequence Sequins Penguins’ Sea-Fins
a defense against sinking
“Pirates aren’t Santa” [skull and cross] Bones Season 1 “Pirates aren’t San
-itary” Aren’t sending enough C to the sea inside themselves
(them cells there where C should sail)
Mal(-ice / -nutrition) mal: bad (“she’s as cold as ice”)
There is a mythod to the[ir] Madness
Err Grrr Arrg guile beguiled socked by
a sucker punch patched up by
rum punch a face registering a bruise as error
whether [weather for] cruising
for or not
A sentence without sentiment
Thrown off the scent (it’s so over, bored) Dense
sin leads to intense sentencing depending
on how dense the sentencer is
(a dunce with a hunch--a hench
-man who will not give [an inch / a shit])
A sentence towards no sentience
(a penalty, pen-halting) 1
1 Penultimate! Ultimate Pen! Pinned in an untimely way, many a mate, many a Paper Mate whose ink’s run dry