Today is seventh day of NaPoWrimo. The challenge today is to write out a list of all of your different layers of identity. For example, you might be a wife, a grandmother, a Philadelphian, a dental assistant, a rabid Phillies fan, a seamstress, retiree, agnostic, cancer survivor, etc.. These are all ways you could be described or lenses you could be viewed through. Now divide all of those things into lists of what makes you feel powerful and what makes you feel vulnerable. Now write a poem in which one of the identities from the first list contends or talks with an identity from the second list. This might turn out to be kind of a “heavy” exercise, emotionally, but I hope you will find the results enlightening.
It was a great insight to carry out the above exercise. I finally picked up a layer which is my strength, that is, writing and the other one that makes me vulnerable at every point, that is, being a woman. I must admit, as cautioned, it weighed down heavily on me but I am glad my strength came out as winner, restoring the balance between the two 🙂 Here’s a small talk between my two identities!
Poem: Writer Vs. Woman
I am a writer
Writing is my passion
Writing has levitated me to new levels
I love the liberty to express myself
You are a woman
You must never forget
You are the weakest creation
You need all defense
“Weakest? Who? Me?”
My words have the power to contest anyone
My views can stimulate and retort anyone
Do I need a better armor when words are my defense?
You are fragile
from birth till demise
You are and will be
A piece of emotional crap
My fragility is my exquisiteness
My emotions are my strength
I use both tools to bolster my inscription
I have the courage to voice my opinions
You were breathed to bear
And rear more of your kind
Don’t waste your time
In verses and rhymes
I produce more poems
I rear more writers
My verses breathe life in more women of my kind
I am proud to be a writer as I am proud to be a woman!
©Vandana Bhasin
Awesome words penned and apt with your challenge. All of us going through these phases of life
Yesterday someone railed at me, saying Americans are all guilty of having elected and supported Trump because we are doing nothing to rout him. My reply was that I was fighting him with votes and words. Sometimes the greatest weapons we have.
How true! People don’t realise the power of pen. As the cliche goes..pen is mightier than sword 🙂 Thanks for reflecting back.
I think you can focus on being a woman you’re strong than on the writer you…and this year’s prompt is an adventure each day…
You brought out the strength of the writer who has no gender, no face very well against the frailty of a woman. As writers, we are definitely strong. But as women at times that strength takes a back seat.