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.