.
Woman
For years I’ve known exactly what it means
To own the weight and wonder of my sex—
The crimson flow of knowledge in my teens,
The curve and swell—my spell—the heady hex
That lures love to the precipice of bliss.
I know the grit and guts it took to claw
Through white hot pain. I roared in its abyss
To feel my velvet newborn latch and draw
Sustenance—a mother’s luscious gift.
I feel the glow that womanhood has gleaned
From challenges—the losses, lows, and lifts…
And now the term’s diminished and demeaned.
Woman—up for grabs—come have a feel.
Try her on for size—does she appeal?
.
.
Susan Jarvis Bryant has poetry published on Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, Light, Sparks of Calliope, and Expansive Poetry Online. She also has poetry published in TRINACRIA, Beth Houston’s Extreme Formal Poems anthology, and in Openings (anthologies of poems by Open University Poets in the UK). Susan is the winner of the 2020 International SCP Poetry Competition, and has been nominated for the 2022 Pushcart Prize.
So very true and to the point, all of it, and beautifully crafted. Thank you, Susan, for passing on an elegant definitiion to those who are, but apparently do not know it.
Dear Sally, I knew you would understand exactly where I’m coming from because you are a magnificent woman who knows exactly what it is to be a woman. You are one of the best! Thank you!
Fantastic sonnet, Susan, which really tells it like it is. Your use of poetic devices is as masterly as ever but your words are direct and blunt. I read into this poem no small amount of indignation and perhaps even some hurt. “Diminished and demeaned” does indeed suggest a very strong emotional stake in the very concept of womanhood being damaged. Is it in fact being damaged? Hell, yes. For every reason that you’ve stated and a dozen more. Are we going to observe “Birthing Person’s Day” next month? Are we going to play Helen Reddy’s “I Am Person” song in honor of it? The hypocrisy of transgender rights is exceptional. I’m trying to count the number of women-transitioning-to-men who are trying to compete on all-male sports teams. So far I come up with exactly zero. Because there’s no chance for a physiological advantage in that context the way there is when men pretend to be women. Ideology and corruption now walk hand in hand.
I do not believe that the fictions our overlords force-feed to us daily can be sustained over the long run, but that is small consolation in a world in which so much evil is glorified and so much that is good is demonized. Sooner or later there will be a reckoning. And you, Susan, will be thanked for advocating in favor of all that is right.
Brian, thank you! I have had a particularly difficult week trying to say exactly what you’re conveying succinctly and perfectly. I may be able to write poetry, but when it comes to debating in a political arena, I fail abysmally. The fact that I’ve been able to relay my argument poetically heartens me. I know what I want to say… and this week I’ve learned that poetry is the only way. I am so grateful for those who appreciate my way of communicating the truth, because that is exactly what I’m trying to do… communicate the truth and get the word out there to those who are confused, hurt, and abused. Brian, I cannot thank you enough for your continued support.
Susan as usual, a wonderfully crafted poem about woman through 11 lines (I would just add “Life” at the beginning of the 11th line i.e., “…to draw life’s sustenance”” and keep the iambic meter) that suddenly diverts into what sounds like the beginning of another poem, (a non-sequitur?) as though the sonnet had been hijacked. Forgive me but with all due respect, I’d love to see this magnificent ode consummated along the lines that you set up. Of course, I would also love to see the body that goes with the final 3 lines – either as their antecedent or their conclusion. I hope this does not touch you the wrong way. It’s my very humble opinion.
Frank, thank you for dropping by. I appreciate your advice. I know I’ve broken the rules – I often do in life and poetry. The reason I’ve gone off meter is because I want the word “sustenance” to scream. Only a woman can give birth and nourish that life with her breast milk. We’ve since moved on with the term “chest feeding” being fashionable – I don’t and never will buy that ridiculousness. I feel my off beat “sustenance” works in this heartfelt poem. I do, however, thoroughly appreciate your input. Thank you very much.
Susan,
I don’t think I can add meaningfully to the perceptive commentary here, but I think I should back you up on this detail: as one who is often flummoxed when encountering an essentially trochaic line in an iambic context, I was immediately struck by your line beginning “sustenance”: the caesura after this word stretches out to grab the reader by the collar (or throat). It is, or should be, a humbling moment, one that begs the question: Who enabled you to do this thing; was it your own little project?
Thank you for your exactitude and your immediacy!
Julian, thank you very much your comment. I try my utmost to embrace form, paying particular attention to meter… unless the sentiment I wish to express tells me differently. In fact, Frank is right in mentioning the addition of the word “Life” in keeping with the iambic flow. I originally wrote the line with “Life” in it… it wasn’t impactful enough, so I dropped it. I’m thrilled this poem makes it easy for the reader to see exactly what I’ve done… I’ve read poems where this sort of break isn’t as obvious, and I too have been confused. Where poetry is concerned, I’m learning all the time. That’s why I like this site so much.
I’m also learning about the term “woman” – who would’ve thought a previously simple definition would outdo the most complex of poetic forms in the spheres of comprehension?! It’s by design, I’m sure. I refuse to submit to idiocy.
Great ode to the dignity and beauty and wonder of womanhood, Susan! You have crafted some lovely lines with images that engage the senses. I can hear the “roaring” of birth pangs and get a certain sense of the visceral agony involved in “clawing through” the white hot pain of childbirth until at last there emerges a most amazing “velvet” creature that “latches” onto its mother to draw sustenance from her. What vivid language! Finally, I love the blunt indignance you express in the final couplet, which packs a well-deserved punch against the nonsense being foisted on society. Thank you for sharing this.
Martin, thank you very much for your wonderful comment and your astute observations. My “punch against the nonsense” (great term) is all that’s standing between those who know exactly what a woman is (those that acknowledge their mother is woman) and those who think a woman is whatever those in control imagine it to be. That’s it, plain and simple. Perhaps those pushing for biological men to enter the biological women’s world should have a long hard look at the repercussions before giving in to this warped ideology so easily. Martin, I am thrilled you get where my poem is I’m coming from.
This is an exceptionally powerful sonnet, and not just in its craft. The authenticity that speaks here is unmistakable, and could only have come from a woman.
For those old enough to remember, there is a very clear picture of how all of the countercultural garbage of the last half-century has had a strong undertone of anti-femininity (I don’t say “misogyny,” since that term has been co-opted by left-liberalism for its own political purposes). The sexual revolution basically made all women fair game for the erotic predation of alpha males. No-fault divorce made it possible for selfish men to dump their wives when tired of them. Rampant inflation caused by massive government spending has forced many mothers to enter the workplace, thereby disrupting normal family life and child-rearing. The open celebration of sluttishness has made traditional feminine modesty and chastity seem like unfashionable jokes. Internet pornography is now almost as big a business as the traffic in illegal drugs. The lucrative abortion and baby-parts industry has placed a heavy burden on the consciences of many girls and women.
Young women are being urged to be as sexually promiscuous as young men, and one consequence is that these women reach the age of 35 or so and find themselves without husbands, and with diminished chances of getting one. At the same time, the noisy propaganda of feminism has embittered a great many men, who in consequence have sworn off marriage and allowed their sexual energies be satisfied by random affairs or visits to prostitutes.
And now, the constant parade of freaks and trannies, along with a ferociously defended attempt to deconstruct and relativize the word “woman,” is the final and abysmal degradation.
Public bathrooms are now open to anyone at all who claims the right to enter, based solely on self-identification. This is true at the two universities where I work — permanently fixed signs are posted on the bathroom doors, legally warning all that no objection can be made by anyone as to the use of the rest rooms by anyone else. In other words, “Enter at your own risk.”
The incidence of rapes and molestations are up everywhere in the Western world, and in some countries like Sweden and Norway there is an official disinclination to even investigate such cases, if the rapes are committed by foreign immigrants. This would still be the case in Northern England if there hadn’t been a huge outcry against the failure of the police to act.
There is a real war against womanhood and the entire concept of femininity, even if it is being disguised by the claptrap of “feminism” and “liberation.”
Joe, your comment touches my heart in ways you cannot imagine. In the last half century many women have thought themselves on the path to enlightened independence – a life of liberation and joy, a life that has little to do with men… unless they choose a man to join them on their triumphant journey against the overpowering patriarchy. How wrong those women were. The same women who screamed whatever a man can do they can do better, the same women who said they were to be considered equal in every area, including in the sports arena, are now protesting against the idea that a woman stands a fair chance of success against a biological male. I don’t blame the women. I blame the insidious ideology that has crept into areas of our lives that mean the most and ripped them apart. I also blame those who have seen what has happened and chosen to turn a blind eye to its continuance. There has indeed been “a real war against womanhood and the entire concept of femininity”. There has also been a war against masculinity, a war that has cuckolded and castrated men before our very eyes… in movies, on adverts, and anywhere we care to look. Perhaps we should start to embrace our differences and stick together to defeat the pure evil that is driving our world apart. I always appreciate your views – you are a rare voice of reason in a world of craziness.
Seeing how Biden’s nominee is dumbfounded when it comes to defining a woman, reading your sonnet would be a good place to start.
Thank you, Cheryl. Perhaps poetry is the answer to all this idiocy… I’m willing to give it a try.
This is a fantastic piece, Susan. I find the almost surgically precise deployment of poetic devices married to a righteous anger very appealing to my sensibilities. It’s a very sad state of affairs when the statement you’ve made is so necessary, but you made it well.
Having read your latest powerful piece, Shaun, I thoroughly appreciate your wonderful observations. It’s amazing what a bit of righteous anger can do on the poetry front. Let’s hope this idiocy dies down soon… sadly, I fear quite the opposite. Thank you very much!
Susan, you have encapsulated for me everything it means to be a woman, in fourteen amazingly beautiful, clever and honest lines. Thank you.
Norma, thank you very much. Your true and beautiful words of acknowledgment in a world that grows increasingly insane by the day have warmed my heart.
It’s clear, Susan, from this poem and your responses to the comments, that you are someone who knows very well what she is and who she is. A woman does not have to be a biologist to know these things: As a model for, or a symbol of, the proliferation and the nurturing of life, a mother is biology in its most exalted expression. All What’s-her-name could do was scratch her head.
Great job, Susan, as always! These two poems on women, the one about the refusal to define the word or term “woman” and this one, make a great pair and should probably be enjoyed together. I think if anyone ever wants to discuss transgenderism with me I may just give them your two poems to read, for educational purposes. That’s right after I would refer them to Genesis 1:27, which I believe is truly at the heart of this matter. It looks like the poor trans-gender-advocating demonically possessed fiends are really only seeking to deface the image of the Creator God whom they hate so much, and they are leaping up and down and falling all over each other to make it happen.
Yael, thank you. Phew! What a week it’s been on the “woman” front. I think you make a great point. I honestly believe our insane society has reached the crucial point where God makes a lot more sense than any alternative… we’re on the road to ruin.
Susan, we have hospitals over here asking men if they may be pregnant prior to having a scan. The world is definitely going bonkers, a bit like that lumberjack sketch from Monty Python. Once again you have nailed it. Thank you.
Jeff, I love that Monty Python sketch, and yes, I believe the world has indeed gone stark raving bonkers! We need a new line in thinking caps – that’ll set the world straight.
Susan, it is heartening to hear someone standing up for womanhood, and
doing so in the form of an eloquent sonnet. There needs to be a fightback against the devaluing of normal biological identities.
David, I thoroughly appreciate your clear-headed comment in this hazy, crazy world of skewing language to nefarious ends. You are right on the “fightback against the devaluing of normal biological identities” – I’m with you all the way on that… a difficult task in this “New Normal” environment. Thank you very much for your sane eye in an insane world.