One More For Good Measure: woman in this world

I was supposed to go to the beach with my immediate and extended family this week, but instead, I stayed home to recuperate from an ailment and take care of my chronically painful back. It was a quiet week of rest, crafting, taking in the beautiful weather, and watching TV and videos. During that time, my creative well refilled enough to write a new poem. It’s too raw and of the moment to sit waiting for an acceptance from a market, so I’m sharing it here and on my social media.

Content Warning for mentions of death and war

A poem that begins:woman in this worldBeatrice, frustrated by the men in her world,Weeps for her belied cousin, and in her weeping,Explains to Benedick: I cannot be a manWith wishing, therefore I will dieA woman with grieving.To be a woman in this world meansTo grieve, to be unmanly, to wait instead of actTo be patient while the men in this world actTo be dismissed in the revel, to be last to dinner,To be talked over and gossiped about and, sometimes,To be mocked for nothing at all but being a womanTo be a woman in this world meansTo feel shame for who you are and what youLook like and what you wear and how youHold yourself and what you choose to do The poem continues:Whether you have children or notWhether you raise your children wellWhether you’re a good partnerWhether you’re a good daughterNo one asks you what you thinkIt means to be youTo be a mother in this world meansWatching your sons drafted forWars other men in this world startedBreastfeeding while starving under aRug with bombs falling all around youCooking and cleaning when neitherFood nor soap are readily accessible to youTo be a partner in this world meansWatching your partner go off to die(Or you leaving them behind to die yourself)While the warmongers in this world hideSafely behind their money The poem concludes:To be a mother in this world meansProtecting your child of colorProtecting your queer or trans childProtecting your neurodivergent or disabled childProtecting them all from the hate and violence in this world.To be a woman in this world meansContradictionsSmallness and strengthFearlessness and fearRapture and rageSmall bursts of sunshine between stormsTo be a woman in this world meansI am a woman in this world.I cannot be a man with wishing, thereforeI will die a woman with grieving.Copyright (c) Amanda Cook, 2024

I hope wherever you’re at, you are safe and comfortable and able to rest from whatever the world is flinging at you.

As always, thank you for reading.

A. Cook

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Published on July 20, 2024 14:22
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