Artemis in Chinatown

I have to confess, I have no idea what’s going on in these pictures. I mean, I know that James took these hilariously candid photos – angles, much? – and so much for that coveted full-body shot,James has obviously had enough after 2 years of diligent photography. We were clearly in Chinatown, but why were we there and when was this? The last few weeks all blur into one summer holiday style blur of no schedule, endless evenings and sunshine. I’ve recently completed slam-dunked myself in the relationships department as well and that’s involved a lot of gin, songwriting at 3 in the morning and feeling like a twat (without sounding arrogant, that’s pretty rare for me), so I’ve been all over the place.

ANYWAY, I wanted solely to show off my Artemis t-shirt (completely inspired by Winnie).  I am a massive Sailor Moon fan and have been contemplating a post showing off all my Sailor Moon stuff. The sleeves are long and it’s very high but I wear it defiantly anyway: ill-fitting, poorly-styled Artemis is better than no Artemis at all. This skirt is from a thrift shop in Portland last summer during my big America trip. I was wearing it on the plane ride where I met a man I ended up proposing to a few weeks later in New York (since immortalised in song). I’ve talked before about associating all my clothes with people I met or spent time with when wearing them – it’s nice that sometimes the clothes live on after the people. When threads endure…

You Will (Orion)

I wrote a song last year called “You Will”. I wrote it for someone I’d ended up hurting quite a lot, the song is basically me apologising and telling that person that they are better off without me; an apologetic warning, if you will. I think it’s one of the most direct songs I’ve written and I kind of shrugged it off as one of my lesser efforts at the time because it’s so simple, but it’s grown on me since.

I wrote the majority of this song in Greece last year whilst re-reading the myths, and although there’s a couple of sly references to Shakespeare, self-harm and the Trojan horse, the song is mostly about Orion (the hunter), and the boy mentioned above. Orion is one of the only constellations I can successfully pick out in the sky. The Orion myth I’m singing about combines the versions as told by Hesiod and Hyginus, which I will recap here:

Orion is first led astray by a girl called Merope, whose angry father discovers Orion and blinds him out of rage. After regaining his sight, Orion befriends Artemis, and becomes the only mortal who can keep up with her hunting skill. Her jealous twin brother, Apollo, kills Orion with a scorpion. Devastated Artemis cries a mountain of tears and begs Zeus (the king of the Gods) to hang Orion’s portrait in the stars, so that he will never be forgotten, and that is where he still twinkles today with his arrow raised above him and his shield raised in front of him, mid-hunt.

Artemis has been my favourite goddess since I was about 7 (I still have clumsy drawings I made of her at primary school) so it was very self-indulgent to try and look through her eyes whilst writing this song. I’m notoriously dismissive with boys and had a reputation for being quite cool (cruel) with potential suitors in my younger years. Looking back I do feel a sense of remorse when considering all these poor ignored boys from the past: nobody wants to think they’re leaving a trail of broken hearts and misery behind them, even if your own heart has been beaten up over the years as well. Immortalising this particular boy and our brief time together in a song is my version of a portrait in the stars, I guess. I wonder if he’ll ever hear it, and if he does, if he’ll recognise himself?

---