Poetry, since eternity, has been one of the most expressive forms of communication and an exceptionally impactful genre of literature. Poetry delivers a plethora of powerful feelings, sometimes in a tongue-in-cheek fashion and sometimes in a euphemistic way.
Period Poetry Starts Conversations Around The ‘Taboo’ Of Menstruation
In fact, the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth called poetry “The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”. Menstruating writers, therefore, naturally found poetry to be the perfect literary outlet for their feelings and opinions on menstruation.
Period poetry is a body of poems that deal with the ideas of and surrounding menstruation. Since menstruation is a taboo in most parts of the world, using poetry to open up discourses around it is essentially a feminist act. Reclaiming the poetic form to include those who menstruate is revolutionary in the sense that it normalizes and de-stigmatize menstruation and the people who menstruate.
As a student of English literature, it is quite disheartening to see the lack of conversations around period poetry in literary spaces. I remember reading Emily Dickinson’s “The name-of it-is ‘Autumn‘” while studying another of her poems in school.
The poem is elusive in the sense, that at first glance, one would never guess that it could be about menstruation. Since the poem seems to almost trick us into thinking that it is only about the bloodshed of the Civil War, especially during the autumn battles in 1862, readers are prone to miss out on the subtle references to menstruation such as “ruddy pools” and “scarlet rain” in the poem.
While Dickinson might have been one of the first to write poetry on menstruation, the legacy of period poetry has been carried forward by the likes of Lucille Clifton, Anne Sexton, and Rita Dove. Perhaps this article would be incomplete without Clifton’s famous poem, “poem in praise of menstruation”. The poem reads like a hymn to the power of menstruation.
Clifton’s Poems Pay Homage To Ancient Feminine Energy
Clifton writes:
“if there is a river
more beautiful than this
bright as the blood
red edge of the moon
if there is a river
more faithful than this
returning each month
to the same delta
if there is a river
braver than this
coming and coming in a surge
of passion, of pain
if there is a river
more ancient than this
daughter of eve
mother of cain and of abel
if there is in the universe such a river
if there is somewhere water
more powerful than this wild water
pray that it flows also
through animals
beautiful and faithful and ancient
and female and brave
Clifton’s poem pays homage to the ancient feminine energy which creates and nurtures, through menstruation. It is a brilliant ode to the life-sustaining bodily function which, unfortunately, instead of being celebrated, is taboo, in most places.
“Menstruation Is A Valid Topic For Poetry”
Bernadette Mayer’s “Ode on Periods” is another poem that honours the menstrual cycle. Mayer tries to state that menstruation is a valid topic for poetry. She criticizes the phallogocentrism of poetry and in the last line, in a rallying cry, urges menstruators to “Hold the bloody sponge up! For all to see!”
Another poem by the famous American poet Edna St Vincent Millay titled “Menses” is a strange piece that ends with the startling line, “To tedious Hell this body with its muddy feet in my mind.”
Millay had been a huge influence on Anne Sexton whose poems “Menstruation at forty” and “In Celebration of my Uterus” tackle the central idea of being a woman with a body that menstruates. Her confessional style of poetry caused much controversy, with the inclusion of taboo topics like addiction, abortion, and menstruation in her poems.
Ellen Bass’s poem “Tampons” is full of the much-needed female rage as she talks of the power of menstrual blood. She writes:
We’ll feed the fish with our blood. Our blood
will neutralize the chemicals and dissolve the old car parts.
Our blood will detoxify the phosphates and the
PCB’s. Our blood will feed the depleted soils
Our blood will water the dry, tired surface of the earth.
We will bleed. We will bleed. We will
bleed until we bathe her in our blood and she turns
slippery new like a baby birthing.
Opal Palmer Reclaims The Menstrual Hut As A Communal Gathering Through Her Poetry
In some countries and cultures, a menstrual hut is a place where women are banished during the days they menstruate since they are considered to be “impure” on those days of the month. But the generally restrictive menstrual hut is reclaimed as a communal gathering space for women in Opal Palmer Adisa’s poem, “Menstrual Hut”.
She writes:
no private room
or isolated contentment
give me
shared space
where women-to-women
gather
laugh at man’s folly
and squash his fear
a menstrual hut
where women can just be
in charge of
nature’s energy.
A collection of period poems would be incomplete without mentioning the powerful slam poems dealing with this topic. From Raych Jackson’s “Period Rules” to “The Period Poem” by Dominique Christina, slam poetry on periods is bold and unapologetic. The poet’s live performance of their piece adds to the power and strength of this kind of poetry.
Reading and writing poetry about menstruation, therefore, de-stigmatizes and empowers menstruating individuals, one word at a time.