"Delta" by Adrienne Rich

How could we get to the end of Women's History Month without looking at Adrienne Rich? The answer is, we couldn't. She has many, many poems worth sharing but "Delta" is one of my very favorites. Enjoy!

Delta
by Adrienne Rich

If you have taken this rubble for my past
 raking through it for fragments you could sell
 know that I long ago moved on
 deeper into the heart of the matter

If you think you can grasp me, think again:
 my story flows in more than one direction
 a delta springing from the riverbed
 with its five fingers spread

 Found at: http://www.literary-arts.org/pim/poems/1997/8/

"Old Maids" by Sandra Cisneros

We’re winding down to the end of Women’s History month so I thought now would be a good time to squeeze in a poem by one of my favorite female writers/ poets. Enjoy!

Old Maids
By Sandra Cisneros

My cousins and I,
we don't marry.
We're too old
by Mexican standards.

And the relatives
have long suspected
we can't anymore
in white.

My cousins and I,
we're all old
maids at thirty.

Who won't dress children,
and never saints--
though we undress them.

The aunts,
they've given up on us.
No longer nudge--You're next.

Instead--
What happened in your childhood?
What left you all mean teens?
Who hurt you, honey?

But we've studied
marriages too long--

Aunt Ariadne,
Tia Vashti,
Comadre Penelope,
querida Malintzin,
Senora Pumpkin Shell--

lessons that served us well.

Found at: http://www.chicanas.com/omaids.html

from "My Emily Dickinson" by Susan Howe

If you love, like, or at least appreciate Emily Dickinson, this poem will give your brain something to mull over. Lots to think about here so take the poem slowly and enjoy.

from My Emily Dickinson
by Susan Howe

When I love a thing I want it and I try to get it. Abstraction of the particular from

the universal is the entrance into evil. Love, a binding force, is both envy and
emulation. HE (the Puritan God) is a realm of mystery and will always remain
unknowable, authoritiarian, unpredictable. Between revealed will and secret will
Love has been torn in two.

DUALISM: Pythagoras said that all things were divisible into two genera,
good and evil; in the genus of good things he classified all perfect things
such as light, males, repose, and so forth, whereas in the genus of evil
he classified darkness, females, and so forth.
(Thomas Aquinas, “On the Power of God,” p. 84)

Promethean aspiration: To be a woman and a Pythagorean. What is the communal
vision of poetry if you are curved, odd, indefinite, irregular, feminine. I go in
disguise. Soul under stress, thread of connection broken, fusion of love and
knowledge broken, visionary energy lost, Dickinson means this to be an ugly verse.
First I find myself a Slave, next I understand my slavery, finally I re-discover
myself at liberty inside the confines of known necessity. Gun goes on thinking of
the violence done to meaning. Gun watches herself watching.

Found at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=238560

"A Woman Speaks" by Audre Lorde

Because Women's History Month is about recognizing all sorts of voices...

A Woman Speaks
by Audre Lorde

Moon marked and touched by sun
my magic is unwritten
but when the sea turns back
it will leave my shape behind.
I seek no favor
untouched by blood
unrelenting as the curse of love
permanent as my errors
or my pride
I do not mix
love with pity
nor hate with scorn
and if you would know me
look into the entrails of Uranus
where the restless oceans pound.

I do not dwell
within my birth nor my divinities
who am ageless and half-grown
and still seeking
my sisters
witches in Dahomey
wear me inside their coiled cloths
as our mother did
mourning.

I have been woman
for a long time
beware my smile
I am treacherous with old magic
and the noon's new fury
with all your wide futures
promised
I am
woman
and not white.


Found at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171291

"I dwell in Possibility" (466) by Emily Dickinson

To both make up for my recent lack of poetry posts and to make the most of Women's History Month before it's over, I'm imposing a new theme- poems by women. Not super unique but super exciting! And who better to keep Women's History Month moving along but Emily Dickinson? That's okay. I couldn't think of anyone else either...


I dwell in Possibility (466)
by Emily Dickinson

I dwell in Possibility –
A fairer House than Prose –
More numerous of Windows –
Superior – for Doors –

Of Chambers as the Cedars –
Impregnable of eye –
And for an everlasting Roof
The Gambrels of the Sky –

Of Visitors – the fairest –
For Occupation – This –
The spreading wide my narrow Hands
To gather Paradise –


Found at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182904

"Outside History" by Eavan Boland

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I'm breaking slightly from the month’s theme (women writing about women), but still in keeping with Women’s History Month and as a nod to St. Patty’s Day/ the Irish, I've chosen a female, Irish poet. Plus, the poem is about history. Does that count? Either way, enjoy this beautiful poem and don’t forget to wear something green!

Outside History
by Eavan Boland

These are outsiders, always. These stars—
these iron inklings of an Irish January,
whose light happened
thousands of years before
our pain did; they are, they have always been
outside history.
They keep their distance. Under them remains
a place where you found
you were human, and
a landscape in which you know you are mortal.
And a time to choose between them.
I have chosen:
out of myth in history I move to be
part of that ordeal
who darkness is
only now reaching me from those fields,
those rivers, those roads clotted as
firmaments with the dead.
How slowly they die
as we kneel beside them, whisper in their ear.
And we are too late. We are always too late.

Found at: http://www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/eavan_boland/poems/1198

"Women" by May Swenson

Women and poetry lends itself easily and often to the realm of social commentary. What better way to start off your Monday? Still in keeping with our Women’s History month theme-- women poets writing about women-- we look at a poem that not only uses complex imagery and makes a strong social commentary, but visually does some interesting things on the page. I want so badly to post the poem “Women” May Swenson right here but as a blogger novice, I can’t for the life of me figure out how to keep the layout of the poem intact. I believe what you see on the page in integral to the poem, especially when the poem layout is so distinct. So please don’t miss out on this poem but visit … http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=178001 or just search "Women" by May Swenson. It should lead you right to the Poetry Foundation website. Maybe take a second and think about how breaking from the traditional down the page layout changes/ adds/ detracts from your reading. What does it mean in context with the content of the poem? Would the social commentary read differently if she adhered to the "rules" of traditional layout? I bet you can think of even more questions which is great because poems like this ask to be thought about. Enjoy!

"Eve's Design" by Moria Linehan

To continue with our Women’s History Month theme of women writing about women, this poem fits in nicely. If you have nothing to do today and are a bit on the nerdy side, take ten minutes and think about the rich images in this poem. Pay attention as the traditionally domestic,wholesome, and “womanly” act of knitting is transformed in the poem. How so? What does it become? Also, what is the role of Eve in this poem? Think on it for a minute and see what you come up with...

Eve's Design
by Moria Linehan

Then there's the Yemeni legend
of Eve in the Garden knitting
a pattern on the serpent's back,
the snake unfinished like the rest
of creation, the first woman
thinking to add design, a sheath
of interlocking diamonds and stripes
along that sensuous S,
knitting giving her time to learn
what's infinitely possible
with a few stitches, twisting cables,
hers a plan to mirror the divine
inner layer that can't be shed
no matter what it rubs up against.

Found at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=30428

"Gretel" by Andrea Hollander Budy

While Monday might give most of us little to look forward too, we're lucky that it's Women's History Month! and we have a bit of poetry to help us through the day...

Gretel
by Andrea Hollander Budy

A woman is born to this:
sift, measure, mix, roll thin.

She learns the dough until
it folds into her skin and there is

no difference. Much later
she tries to lose it. Makes bets

with herself and wins enough
to keep trying. One day she begins

that long walk in unfamiliar woods.
She means to lose everything

she is. She empties her dark pockets,
dropping enough crumbs

to feed all the men who have ever
touched her or wished.

When she reaches the clearing
she is almost transparent—

so thin
the old woman in the house seizes

only the brother. You know the rest:
She won’t escape that oven. She’ll eat

the crumbs meant for him, remember
something of his touch, reach

for the sifter and the cup.

Found at: http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/175.html

"Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou

Obviously we can't get very far into our women and poetry month without looking at this poem. You may have read it 20 times before or even took a test on it, but one of the great things about most poetry is that it's not long so take a minute and read it again...

Phenomenal Woman
by Maya Angelou Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Found at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=178942

"What Do Women Want?" by Kim Addonizio

It's our month of women and poetry! And I've been saving this poem just for the occasion...

"What Do Women Want?"
by Kim Addonizio

I want a red dress.
I want it flimsy and cheap,
I want it too tight, I want to wear it
until someone tears it off me.
I want it sleeveless and backless,
this dress, so no one has to guess
what's underneath. I want to walk down
the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store
with all those keys glittering in the window,
past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old
donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers
slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly,
hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders.
I want to walk like I'm the only
woman on earth and I can have my pick.
I want that red dress bad.
I want it to confirm
your worst fears about me,
to show you how little I care about you
or anything except what
I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment
from its hanger like I'm choosing a body
to carry me into this world, through
the birth-cries and the love-cries too,
and I'll wear it like bones, like skin,
it'll be the goddamned
dress they bury me in.

Found at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16213

"the lost women" by Lucille Clifton

Hurrah!! March is Women’s History Month which means we’ll be looking at a variety of women poets, past and present. I’m so excited! The idea is to find mostly poems written about women by women. To get the month of women and poetry off to a good start, Lucille Clifton will do the trick...

the lost women
by Lucille Clifton

i need to know their names
those women i would have walked with
jauntily the way men go in groups
swinging their arms, and the ones
those sweating women whom i would have joined
after a hard game to chew the fat
what would we have called each other laughing
joking into our beer? where are my gangs,
my teams, my mislaid sisters?
all the women who could have known me,
where in the world are their names?

Found at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21309