Description: We women are in a cool club-there's a lot of nasty things we get used to. Thru the ages men have envied us, tho they won't say so-they imitate us with their adolescent circumcision, thorn thru the penis, animal sacrificing, blood on the maize type of rituals. Where does this mysterious appreciation of life come from? Comes from being it.
Living it.
Roll in it, baybee-it's our totem
Our mantle
Our mystery
Blood Marks My Life -------------------------------------------
Archaeologists thought men were phasing the moon
when they found ancient sticks marked with 28 gashes. But was it women counting the days
'til blood marked their lives?
I don't recall making my first appearance
tugged through mom's belly's wide open slash
beginning the cycle--blood marking my life.
With the fresh fascination of a child
I watched my grandpa chop the head off an
alligator snapping turtle who was
hogging all the fish. My grandfather cut out
his claws for a necklace. I dreamed of gushing
blood that night--woke up a sister to women,
for blood marks my life.
Tequila-drunk on our way to hear reggae
we detour into hell's stone wall, blood everywhere
from all four of us, my legs' bare bones throbbing
in their first scent of fresh air,
floorboard and shoes
filling with eight units' worth.
Cut like my mother for boy number one,
nine weeks early and my platelets gravely
plummeting. Boy number two's linebacker chest
ripped me happily, for blood marks my life.
While nursing a baby, you know, your period
stops. I weaned the "spoogs" at 16 months,
and for a year of that
was in a timeless limbo,
free but feeling lost, unanchored and rambling,
for blood marks my life.
Thrilling, gory stories of war-is it mere
contingence that what stirs the breast of a patriot man
simply leaves us asking what's the mystery?
For blood marks our lives.
This was awesome! I really like how you lay this out there & how it's about blood but it's not the typical horrorific vampiric pieces you can typically find here. Very, very deep as Dave said. As women we have always been portrayed (for control) as the lesser - the second - the cause of the fall - but you said "IT" - we are life - the doorway and that's such a connection. Well fricken done! Love,Peace,Joy&Smilez 2 share tif
This one was pretty heavy. I enjoyed reading it. I feel for you women and all the blood you have to shed through moments you have described in childbirth and menstration. I liked how you encapsulated everyone with the car accident thing and how all involved shed some blood. Nice twist there. Very unique story and a nice way of putting blood into a perspective that all can relate too. Well done!
Blood also appears to mark the keen sense of loss women feel when their men die in battle (perhaps war is not as kind as Crane sarcastically suggested). You've documented a life full of seeping wounds and shed blood (some accidental, some not), yet I find it difficult to believe men shed blood because they envy a woman's ability to menstruate or give birth. I may be wrong (speaking as a man, that's entirely possible), but I believe men are fascinated with the mystery of birth and life cycles apart from their apparent love of violence (which seems more a competitive urge than anything else). As far as I'm concerned, violent people (men or women) enjoy holding the power of life and death in their hands; they paint their masterpieces in blood. It is an interesting thought (and an incredibly well written piece). This one must have come from your heart. Take care and keep posting. Bill.
Submission Name: Blood Marks My Life
