Thursday, March 10, 2011

women's day

March 8, 2011

(100th Anniversary of International Women's Day)


Sometimes I know there's song

bursting out of me - not words

but what I feel, I know I can do.


It's spring and the new black skirt

fits well. At lunch my mind pulses

with the day's challenges and fullness.


Why, when I think there's nothing

innocent left in me, do my eyes

still dance? I laugh all the time.


I asked my class of forty-six

females (plus five boys in the back)

“Do you like being a woman?”


They all said yes but not much

about why. Except the clothing

is more colorful. And we can cry.


I told them feminists are just people

who want freedom - for women and

men - to be anything we want to be.


I told them sometimes freedom comes

when you choose the right path

and say, “to hell with being good”


I told them when you start doing that

you also end up with fewer excuses

and a lot more reasons to celebrate.


I told them I have no idea why

we keep trying to be younger,

when each year we have more.


I didn't tell them about the song

bursting out of me. But the way it was

pulsing, I'm sure they saw heard it.

1 comment:

Ifinder Ifindi said...

Well. Adoring the saintly words from a philosophier. Particularly on Women's Day. 'All I can do' is simply the great. Lucky the students and rest assured. They are blessed with knowledge and with care. Thanking You with Best Wishes.