poem “On Becoming a Woman”, an adaptation of a 1999 poem about the difficulties in being a female and becoming a women By Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers

[the Writing of Kuypers] [JanetKuypers.com] [Bio] [Poems] [Prose]

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 6/4/16 show “Obey” at Expressions 2016: June is a Woman! in Austin (Sony), first reading her haiku poems progress, extend, falling, civil, and greatest, then reading her poems Earth is a Topiary (her 1st of 2 poems where she used a voice modulator to reads parts of her poem in a male voice), On Becoming a Woman (an editing and expansion of her 1999 poem Becoming a Woman), Viewing the Woman in a 19th Century Photograph (an editing of her 1991 poem Photograph, Nineteenth Century and her 2nd of 2 poems where she used a voice modulator to reads parts of her poem in a male voice), Content With Inferior Men, portions of her poem In The Air with slightly altered wording, and Oh, She Was a Woman (an editing of her 1997 poem She Was a Woman).

See YouTube video of Janet Kuypers in her 6/4/16 show “Obey” at Expressions 2016: June is a Woman! in Austin (Cps), first reading her haiku poems progress, extend, falling, civil, and greatest, then reading her poems Earth is a Topiary (her 1st of 2 poems where she used a voice modulator to reads parts of her poem in a male voice), On Becoming a Woman (an editing and expansion of her 1999 poem Becoming a Woman), Viewing the Woman in a 19th Century Photograph (an editing of her 1991 poem Photograph, Nineteenth Century and her 2nd of 2 poems where she used a voice modulator to reads parts of her poem in a male voice), Content With Inferior Men, portions of her poem In The Air with slightly altered wording, and Oh, She Was a Woman (an editing of her 1997 poem She Was a Woman).

Download all of the show poems in the free chapbook
Obey
6/4/16 at Expressions 2016: June is a Woman! show in Austin

On Becoming a Woman
Janet Kuypers
written 6/10/99 as “Becoming a Woman”, editted 5/15/16 for a poetry show 6/4/16
When I was young
I never had any lessons in how to become a woman
No one explained to me the blood you have to deal with
Every month, or the potential pain
like there are little people inside you, like little elves
Just kicking at the insides of you
No one explained to me that this is the beauty
Of being a woman
I thought women had enough to fight against
to begin with
So one day I noticed, while reading a book
That there was blood on my underwear
So,
I guess the process had started for me
So I told my mom what I saw
She said she’d buy some pads right away
That was all the talking we did about it
I never got a talk about the birds and the bees
Because, when the world seems to go silent
Just when you need it screaming loud and clear
You listen to the silence throughout life
And just hope that you’ll know what to do
On this blindfolded battle
On becoming a woman

my hand to an anim of jkchair