I’ve been checking out poetry over at Poets.org today (you know, as you do) and came across this brilliant Ode by Bernadette Mayer. I’m all about openness and saying it like it is these days, especially when it comes to women’s bodies which have been ushered behind some ridiculous veil of impropriety and shame for centuries (millenniums more likely). Anyway, this poem rips open the veil and had me giggling (literally out loud) to boot.

Here’s an excerpt:

I first got my period when I was twelve the day my father died
at least I knew what it was, some girls didn’t then
we were told you can’t go swimming but don’t you wanna have
	children
so much for confessionalism
I won’t call on the moon like in a real poem
or anthropology or the bible or talk about being untouchable
or power etc. I’ve nothing at all to say but to exercise
my freedom to speak about everything

Read the rest of Mayer’s Ode on Periods and enjoy!