Novel Nomenclature

Completed my Novel Nomenclature book! I was thinking a lot about how my strange compulsion to steal flowers around my neighborhood seemed to be somehow loaded with symbolism. Such as, stealing something or someone for yourself and taking life and power because of greed. I'd had the name "Novel Nomenclature" in my head for a while because of a friend, Corey, who suggested it after I started doing quick line drawings of plants, with my friends and I collaborating on fun names to write beside them instead of the usual scientific labeling. It came together in what appears to me to be a somewhat feminist message, but I feel like it's got more to do with my general impression of life as a female than woman's rights, however. The double edged sword of being a prude/slut, or a goody-two-shoes/out-of-control. I feel like many names are tossed around in a black and white way making life for women this awkward catch-22. Either way you get a label, right?

But if you want it can just be nice drawings of flowers. :]

In order: Clingy Karol, Martha the Deflowered, Fay's Frayed Edges, Solitary Sandra, Goody-Two-Shoes Gladys and Grace, Late Bloomer Lauren, The Ever-Bountiful Beatrice, Torn in Half Teagan, Stand-offish Selma, Used-Up No-Good Aged Dried-Out Daniella, Pamela Who Fell Apart, Two-Faced Tara, Sheltered Shay and Her Sisters.

           

Being a woman, 

means playing the delicate flower

means accepting certain ironies

means living by a double-edged sword

means waiting to be plucked

means representing what someone else wants

means wandering through life on eggshells of their creation

her pursuits are misconstrued as novel

the nomenclature assigned to her is trivial to you

but, her body does not, should not, and will not, dictate her life.