Poems with Anab: Femininity explored in poetry

A week of Women's History Month has passed and I cannot wait to explore more poems about femininity.

Since there is much to be shared, I’ll be splitting these articles into several parts over the course of this month, and I hope that you all stay for the ride.

I’ll be starting off with a poem written by Rupi Kaur, who, in all honesty, deserves a whole article dedicated to her poems on feminism. Check out her poems if you haven’t done so already, or hang tight for when I delve into them next time.

“What’s the greatest lesson a woman should learn?"
That since day one, she’s already had everything
she needs within herself. it’s the world that
convinced her she did not.”

— What’s the Greatest Lesson a Woman Should Learn?
Rupi Kaur

”Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.“

— Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou

“the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth
the drowned face always staring
toward the sun
the evidence of damage
worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty
the ribs of the disaster
curving their assertion
among the tentative haunters.”

— Diving Into the Wreck
Adrienne Rich

”your hips
will try to burst
through your skin
your thighs
will try to grow together
like a mermaid’s tail
a soft garden
will try to sprout
on your legs
(& between your legs,
on your upper lip,
on your armpits, etc.)
no, you are
not just here to be
sexy for him.
the world begins
& ends
when you say so.”

— What They Don't Want You to Know
Amanda Lovelace

I would rather focus on female poets, but I’d like to include one poem written by Walt Whitman to show that it isn’t just us women fighting for ourselves.

“Be not ashamed women, your privilege encloses the rest, and is the exit of the rest,
You are the gates of the body, and you are the gates of the soul.
The female contains all qualities and tempers them,
She is in her place and moves with perfect balance,
She is all things duly veil’d, she is both passive and active,
She is to conceive daughters as well as sons, and sons as well as daughters.”

— I Sing the Body Electric
Walt Whitman