I Write for Women

I write for women, not for men,
For women, first and foremost,
My gender-kind.
I write from our own perspective,
And am immediately understood.
In my words, as in a true mirror,
Women recognize
Themselves.

As for men, well yes,
They should read me, too,
Make the effort,
As foreigners,
As a French person studies
A Japanese classic.

Then will they learn
What we know now,
That their norm
Is only the norm
For men,
Not the nor
For people.

I, for example,
Do not need to harpoon a fish,
Like pegleg Melville
And old man Hemingway,
To prove myself to myself,
Indeed, to prove anything.
I do not need to go to war,
Or carry a big stick,
Or kick ass,
Or kick a ball,
Or sit in front of a TV
Watching other men
Kick a ball,
To prove, and prove again, my manhood.

Nor do I need to serve
A man
An endless meal,
Or play forever
Second fiddle,
Or softly say, "There, there,"
or softer still, say nothing at all,
To prove my bountiful womanhood.
Anything at all that I do,
Any way that I do it,
Is feminine,
And all my words,
Like my hips,
Are pure female.