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"There are animals and also metamophoses in this system, and she begins to be aware of a connection to a snake and to an owl. She also begins to know she is on a quest to find “our mother,” the First Woman, whoever that might be. Finally she gets on a different kind of train which dissolves and leaves her floating to a lower level of existence, a set of caverns representing the psyche. As she proceeds from cavern to cavern, in a way reminiscent of her progress through the subway system, she is presented with explanatory tableaux or dreams, which show piecemeal the structure of the self below its surface. She also picks up the trail of the First Woman, who may be a snake. At the end of these caves she participates in a sort of lottery, draws a card, the Ace of Panthers/Roses, which signifies that it is she who must kill the Tyrant. Then she descends a staircase to a further level of being, a natural but entirely dark setting, a potential paradise which contains no light from the sky. There she finds the First Woman, not really a snake though that has been her symbol—but headless: her head is always nearby. The First Woman tells her story, and the protagonist assists in the replacement of the First Woman’s head; then the First Woman begins to place stars in the sky, simply by speaking. The protagonist leaves her and meets up with the owl, who performs on her a brutal ritual “death,” in order to give her “grace” and the owl attributes of flight, a beak, and talons: weapons. Now ready for the Tyrant she ascends to his mansion, a huge literal Museum of Natural History. They tour the museum with its displays and dioramas. The Tyrant informs her he can’t be killed because he literally is the world and not at all a person. They reenter the subway world together, take a train to the River Street stop, outside of which Bows a dark river. The protagonist sees a black tattered cloth floating on its blood-black waters, and having swallowed the cloth she regains her memory and her name: she is Alette and is in mourning for her brother who died in one of the Tyrant’s manipulative wars. There is a pursuit, a sort of combat, and she does kill the Tyrant, discovers the one way to do so, which involves use of her owl powers. Then the doors of the subway unlock, people emerge, and the world begins again in open air."


Alice Notley, The "Feminine" Epic, in Coming After, pp. 176-177.