This poem was originally published in Shit’s Fucked #4: Cannibal Sex. We would like to present it to you here online for the first time. Lisa Nohner is now a third time contributor to the Dark Earth Publishing lines of zines, in Shit’s Fucked and Strange Romance.
Here is the poem in its entirety with an excerpt from Lisa Nohner’s submission letter:
[…]The character Sally Hardesty of Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) is often remembered not for her bravery but rather for her final hysterical scream scene, reinforcing her status as an object of torture rather than a traditional Final Girl heroine.
This poem represents an attempt at a feminist reclamation of Sally's narrative, using a bit of dialogue from the opening expository sequence of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) in which it is stated that Sally claimed escaping the Sawyer house was essentially "breaking out of a window in hell". Ultimately, this persona poem seeks to complicate Sally's narrative and shed light on her agency as a survivor.
A Window
in hell:
by Lisa Marie Nohner
Sally.
In the dream, he's still behind me:
A black mass
motorized
Sally said..
I could run at the speed of light,
Chase a sunbeam to the tail end of the universe
And he would still be ten, six, maybe only two steps back
the Saw still smoking in his grasp
Sally said she...
Feels that silly machine whine past my ear
a selfish child in
perpetual tantrum--
It misses my skin but
Strips all the blonde from my hair…
Sally.
The keys are gone
My boyfriend's dead
And my brother is all
fresh and red
a steaming pile of meat
in a sorry silver chair
Sally said she
Sally said
Sally.
Mostly men are served at this last supper
And I can't stop tasting Jerry's lung in my mouth
Wet and salty and slightly charred at the edges
Pam in the freezer,
Her eyelashes twinkled like stars…
Saturn is a malefic planet
These fucking hicks and their chicken bone lamp shades
This farm animal ossuary
Feathers, blood and motor oil
streaking all the floor boards
All men are whining children at this last supper
An ancient male baby sucked the blood from my finger like—
When I get out of here I'm moving to New York City
When I get out of here I'm never
Gonna run til I cough up my own heart
Sally.
Someone got blood all over my white bellbottoms
Someone got bleeding on me
Listen
Someone
Someone said
Someone said she
Threw her entire body at that window
Hammered it with the force of her rib cage,
Arms splayed, back arched
white hair streaming –
A Spirit of Ecstasy !
Open mouthed grinning,
Both lips bleeding,
Teeth splintered with glass.
Sally said she had broken out of a window.
In hell.
Sally said she was only trying to hook her arms around the moon.