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More poetry: Dr. Michael Abramson's
poetry, "timeless," by Joe Davis "Menstrual Traveling Show," song cycle by
Geneva Kachman
This poem is part of a collection of poems about women's
midlife years entitled "Crossing the Center Line," forthcoming
from Sweet Annie Press later this year (2002).
"Tribute to Today"
by Ellaraine Lockie
One day drains into the next
With vaginal open vein gushes
Hourly performances
predictable as Old Faithful
That leave souvenir stains
suggesting a psychotic break
with brick-red acrylics
Acted out on clothing
couches, car seats
A midnight murder scene
marked with discolored sheets
and blood-covered cat
Or maybe a pre
Row versus Wade abortion
Instead of the perimenopausal
molting that imperils my health
Imposing ultrasound waves
biopsies and impending anemia
False alarms triggering
the end of self-absorption
And sounding appreciation
for present rather than past
When I would have
knitted sanitary napkins
Washed rags, worn grass
Or inserted cotton seeds
Segregated in a menstrual hut
Where ignorance invoked
shame of even polite periods
And mutant menses would
have meant constant castigation
Instead of temporary treason
by body in transition
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More poetry