This took me back to so many conversations about menstruation that I had with my own Grandmother back in India. How she had to hide her washcloths (Because there wasn't much awareness of sanitary hygiene and no sanitary products available then) while growing up because even the sight of Clean washcloths that were used to soak up the blood was deemed repugnant by the opposite gender and elder women of the household.
Hello! thank you for sharing this piece of your personal history with me, and opening up about such a personal experience with your grandmother. Unfortunately I have also had to hide clean and totally unopened menstrual hygiene products from family members, usually men. I really feel for those elderly family members we have, that might be carrying so much shame surrounding their own bodies, if they react like this amongst others who menstruate. I wonder what we can do to create a more supportive environment, beyond having conversations online.
As a fellow South Asian woman I feel this poem. So deeply. I was born and raised Hindu and “period” was a bad word with all the connotations that went with it. Thank you for sharing ♥️
Well, I can certainly see why you've won all those awards! The spacing/formatting was quite nice. Not too crazy but variable enough to keep things fun. Love how you brought in red three times. Very effective, and simple too. Only two colors, red and gray. I think this style of free verse poetry is my fav, the narrative story telling type where the language is easy. Very well penned. I have one small critisizm but it hardly matters to the poem at large. The message and content is very clear and well delivered.
It is sad, really, the way this ignorance and...not sure what to call it, some sort of abuse I guess, has persisted. It is not the Islamic way at all. If only people would read the seerah of the prophet PBUH and the stories his wives have narrated, they would realize the impurity only extends to certain acts of worship. As a guy I can't imagine how great of a toll this passed down shame has taken on women; it's not like they don't have a hundred other things working against them in whichever systems they find themselves living in.
I read something recently about how companies make so much money off of sanitary products and how ludicrous that is. Gotta love capitalism.
I wonder what the women of Gaza and Sudan and other places are going through right now. There's no running water or dryers or anything. God help them.
Thank you for your kind words, and for the attention that you gave this work. I really appreciate it! I think this one took me 7-8 hours to complete when I wrote it last year so it really means a lot when readers take their time with it. If you like the style of this poem, I think you will like my other work as well as I really enjoy writing poems that contain narratives.
I'm interested in hearing your criticism, if you feel like sharing it. I'm always grateful for feedback (as long as it's delivered respectfully lol). If you have any thoughts on my other poems, I hope you share them in the comments again.
I've also been thinking about the people in Sudan and Gaza. I really wish I could do more to help.
This took me back to so many conversations about menstruation that I had with my own Grandmother back in India. How she had to hide her washcloths (Because there wasn't much awareness of sanitary hygiene and no sanitary products available then) while growing up because even the sight of Clean washcloths that were used to soak up the blood was deemed repugnant by the opposite gender and elder women of the household.
Hello! thank you for sharing this piece of your personal history with me, and opening up about such a personal experience with your grandmother. Unfortunately I have also had to hide clean and totally unopened menstrual hygiene products from family members, usually men. I really feel for those elderly family members we have, that might be carrying so much shame surrounding their own bodies, if they react like this amongst others who menstruate. I wonder what we can do to create a more supportive environment, beyond having conversations online.
As a fellow South Asian woman I feel this poem. So deeply. I was born and raised Hindu and “period” was a bad word with all the connotations that went with it. Thank you for sharing ♥️
Thanks for letting me know, and thanks for sharing your experience ♥️
Of course!! If we don’t listen each other into being, who will?
🙏🏼
That’s such a lovely perspective, I really like that!
I gotta ask, how'd you get the whole poem in a single screen shot? Quite long.
Great question! I assembled a few screenshots into one larger design in Canva.
Dang, i'm a newbie on canva. Seems like it's got a lot of uses and it's quite capable.
Well, I can certainly see why you've won all those awards! The spacing/formatting was quite nice. Not too crazy but variable enough to keep things fun. Love how you brought in red three times. Very effective, and simple too. Only two colors, red and gray. I think this style of free verse poetry is my fav, the narrative story telling type where the language is easy. Very well penned. I have one small critisizm but it hardly matters to the poem at large. The message and content is very clear and well delivered.
It is sad, really, the way this ignorance and...not sure what to call it, some sort of abuse I guess, has persisted. It is not the Islamic way at all. If only people would read the seerah of the prophet PBUH and the stories his wives have narrated, they would realize the impurity only extends to certain acts of worship. As a guy I can't imagine how great of a toll this passed down shame has taken on women; it's not like they don't have a hundred other things working against them in whichever systems they find themselves living in.
I read something recently about how companies make so much money off of sanitary products and how ludicrous that is. Gotta love capitalism.
I wonder what the women of Gaza and Sudan and other places are going through right now. There's no running water or dryers or anything. God help them.
*red was mentioned 4 times actually but two of them are very close together in the middle, so like three instanced of red.
Thank you for your kind words, and for the attention that you gave this work. I really appreciate it! I think this one took me 7-8 hours to complete when I wrote it last year so it really means a lot when readers take their time with it. If you like the style of this poem, I think you will like my other work as well as I really enjoy writing poems that contain narratives.
I'm interested in hearing your criticism, if you feel like sharing it. I'm always grateful for feedback (as long as it's delivered respectfully lol). If you have any thoughts on my other poems, I hope you share them in the comments again.
I've also been thinking about the people in Sudan and Gaza. I really wish I could do more to help.
This left me speechless. Beautifully written.