Southern Cross University Showcase

A showcase of SCU student work, compiled by Dr Emma Doolan

...By Any Other Name

Ali Rayner

Her name, so easy on the tongue. Her hair and cup size, exactly what he’d been scanning the crowds for. He was in charge of this transaction. A bouquet arrived every day; inspired by her name on his lips, spoken in bunches of reds and shades of flesh and cream, all trimmed of thorns. He threw a blanket over her of his projected affection. She ran out of vases. There was no space left to show him who she was. He saw only a sea of pretty petals and filled his sinuses with the heady perfume. She was told how lucky she was till she believed it must be true, despite the contrast within. She didn’t notice the script he had written offered no speaking parts for her. He would lavish her, manoeuvre her, then swoop in to claim his investment. His polished sales pitch would leave her no time to think, no room to breathe, no choice but to say yes. She was led down the aisle, through the bedroom, past the nursery and kitchen, all the way to the divorce lawyer with an eye for lonely women. In her heart and mind lived a being beyond gender, ageless and hopeful, filled with wonder and wit, never seen. Her name, infused with her fine sex, condemned her to be compared to a summer’s day. If she could, she would ban the word, banish it from language, and rip every plant out by the roots. He thought she was silly when she asked, why must females be compared to nature? His answer was engineered with flattery, to sweep her off her feet and into bed. But she refused to be an object for this beholder. Her ugly, intolerable thorns grew back. After the divorce, she changed her name down at the register, to something short and slightly masculine. She hoped it would reflect her personality, that people would take her seriously. But alas, she was still such a sweet, pretty girl. About this piece ‘…By Any Other Name’ is an experimental lipogram, omitting the word ‘rose’. This prose poem, in the form of a tight wall of words, visually signifies the barrier between gender roles. Written words can bind or liberate us; thus, Rose can climb over this wall and escape her confinements.

Ali Rayner is studying creative writing at Southern Cross University, which compliments her visual art and design background and multimedia aspirations. As a global diasporic citizen, her writing practice negotiates a cultural void of trimmed-roots, twisted histories and uncertain futures, in an optimistic search for identity, meaningful connections, and kindness.