Her-realm.com is far, far from the typical ‘what is going on in my life narrative blog’. It is the unique poetic journal of Etcetera’s (or The Abstrakt Junkie or Jilly Hunter — yes she has many pseudonyms, I’ll use Etcetera) ‘thinking outlet and mental toilet. My entries are purely the result of mind regurgitation.’ The site itself is clean, uncluttered, easy to read and navigate…
Etcetera is a lover of music (she is a self proclaimed hip-hop head), likes writing, enjoys AC (year ‘round), her dog and sex. While I won’t say this is a full on erotic blog… her sexuality is described openly with a rather confident provocative sincerity which I have yet to find in another blog. She has been writing Her-Realm for well over a year but only seems to write once a week or less in some months.
I found the older entries full of metaphors and a curious blend of romance novel/essay-like/poetic language that reminded of a dirty Showcase special voice-over… The language is very artistic and expressive. One example: ‘My ink falls without a parachute, writhing in artistic agony once its hit the ground, and no one seems to understand why my blues and blacks attempt these suicides…’. Most of the entries are written like this… and depending on what you like, it can be beautiful or boring. I think some readers might find it stuffy and pretentious, and won’t get Her-Realm in spite of her disclaimer: ’ I’d like to think that I can write freely without a million people misinterpreting and critiquing everything they read here, but that million exists.’.
The more I read the more I was strangely intrigued by the uniqueness of her writing style. I actually had to ‘pay attention’ to fully digest her personal poetic articulations. I believe it would be more satisfying to have been able to read these entries as they were posted, instead of all at once for a review. A small daily dose of ‘Her-realm’ would be very satisfying, potent stuff.
I found the more recent entries to be more accessible as they seem to have become more narrative and less poetic, such as ‘sister dearest pt. I’ or the ‘compensation’ entry. I’m not suggesting a dramatic change, maybe just a slight mellowing, don’t misunderstand, none of Her-Realm’s entries lack her poetic zest.
The content jumps around her ruminations about love, lovers, emotions, feelings… which she often expresses with some moving poetry which is scattered throughout her archives. You’ll also find some interesting ‘mixed tape’ track listings and the odd meme, which seems strangely out-of-place in this poetic blog.
Her-Realm is unquestionably a uniquely refreshing, slightly erotic, cerebral read. Her-Realm might not be your realm…but I recommend reading to find out if it is… If you can hear Etcetera’s muse loud and clear, the music is beautiful, symphonic, break-taking, awakening and will leave you sweaty wanting more, more, more…
Her-realm.com