Women-Only

From New Poetry in Hindi: Nayi Kavita
(Lucy Rosenstein, 2004):

a.ndhere-sii chaa gayii huu.n
aakaash par:
bahut hii udaas-sii baat kaho ek |
baras jaae.n
merii parto.n ke niice jame baadal |



Kanta 1934 - 1986

(I am spread like darkness
on the sky:
Tell me something very sad.
So that the clouds gathered underneath my folds
may rain.

Translated by Lucy Rosenstein;
transliteration my own)

:::

From Love's Witness: Five Centuries of Love Poetry by Women
(Jill Holllis, ed, 1993):

Giving
You think I give myself to you?
      Not so, my friend, you do not see
My single purpose and intent -
      To make you give myself to me.



Nora B. Cunningham (late 19^th/early 20^th century)

:::

From 'Cupcake'
(in Pretty Little Head by Nellie McKay, 2006):

C'mon honey stop denyin'
Or I'm forever gonna be a bachelor
Leave the steps of your house
Get down to the courthouse
Give me a G and an A - why?!
Cuz it's true, baby
I need you
I'm damned if I say "I do"
Jesus would approve

I need you in the morning
I need you in the scarlet afterglow
Oh won't you let my lovin' show baby

(Damn, Nellie McKay is just too cute.)

Not that I want to be a gender-separatist or anything, but it would seem I'm decidedly gender-biased when it comes to selecting the things I read and listen to. And it's really frustrating when male writers, poets, and musicians garner so much more attention and praise than female ones.

I don't see why being it should be this way. If I may borrow a line from Tanya Chua: "I think it's time some things should change / It doesn't have to be that way".

Come on, world - change already.