The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poem Thread, 9/4/07 Bonus

[BlueIris]

"A Woman's Issue"

The woman in the spiked device
that locks around the waist and between
the legs, with holes in it like a tea strainer
is Exhibit A.

The woman in black with a net window
to see through and a four-inch
wooden peg jammed up
between her legs so she can't be raped
is Exhibit B.

Exhibit C is the young girl
dragged into the bush by the midwives
and made to sing while they scrape the flesh
from between her legs, then tie her thighs
till she scabs over and is called healed.
Now she can be married.
For each childbirth they'll cut her
open, then sew her up.
Men like tight women.
They ones that die are carefully buried.

The next exhibit lies flat on her back
while eighty men a night
move through her, ten an hour.
She looks at the ceiling, listens
to the door open and close.
A bell keeps ringing.
Nobody knows how she got here.

You'll notice that what they have in common
is between the legs. Is this
why wars are fought?
Enemy territory, no man's
land, to be entered furtively,
fenced, owned but never surely,
scene of these desperate forays
at midnight, captures
and sticky murders, doctors' rubber gloves
greasy with blood, flesh made inert, the surge
of your own uneasy power.

This is no museum.
Who invented the word love?

—Margaret Atwood

[ThomCat]

1. Can you imagine

if women "owned" any portion of a man's anatomy as commonly and thoroughly as men seem to own women's vaginas?

Can anyone imagine a comparable situation?

No portion of my anatomy is anyone's business but my own, because I'm male. It is one of the many privilages of being male.

[BlueIris]

2. Ah, an honest acknowledgment of the existence of male privilege.

Only from you, Thom.

:loveya:

[ThomCat]

3. This poem is awesome, in a really tragic way. It makes the whole idea

of having ownership of your own body jump out at you. I take credit only for asking the obvious question. :)

[BlueIris]

4. This is one of my favorite Atwood pieces.

I've always been most moved by the closing line, "Who invented the word love?"

[ThomCat]

15. I've been thinking about that the entire way home from work.

Thank you for posting a powerful poem today. :)

:hug:

[BlueIris]

5. Kick.

[ismnotwasm]

6. That is incredibly powerful

Poetry like that moves me more than prose, in your face words with the sing song-style of the poet. It's interesting, because poetry can lull you, relax you, or keep you up at night thinking about it. This, I'll be thinking about.

[BlueIris]

7. Well, someone did request something "powerful" for tonight.

[BlueIris]

8. Kick.

[BlueIris]

9. Kick.

[BlueIris]

10. Kick.

[Callalily]

11. Oh good Lord!

How depressing. What horrific practices are honored in some cultures. :cry:

[BlueIris]

16. I knew I'd get at least one "depressing" out of this.

[RetroLounge]

12. Atwood = Powerful

Indeed

This is no museum.
Who invented the word love?

RL

[skygazer]

13. Well, that certainly is powerful

Margaret Atwood rocks - she gets right to the painful heart of the matter.

[wildhorses]

14. ~

no words.

[BlueIris]

17. Kick.

[BlueIris]

18. Kick.

[Katherine Brengle]

19. Fantastic, as usual.

Keep it up.