I mentioned this fabulous book in my last post and that it was out of print. I was pleasantly surprised when Ms. Owen read my post, and in her comment told me that her amazing book is back in print! I can't tell you all how happy I am to hear this. This is one of the most life-affirming, positive books for and about women that I have ever read. Every girl and woman should read it. Too often young girls lose their power when they reach puberty and begin menstruating. This book celebrates us. Oh, how I wish I'd had this book when I was eleven years old and scared to death about what was happening to my body. My mother called it the curse, as probably did her mother. It is not a curse. It is a blessing and it is a gift and this book celebrates the power of our blood. Here is the blurb from Amazon.com:
"We menstruate more now than at any time in human history. Girls are starting to menstruate earlier due to protein-rich diets and hormones in food; women are less likely to die young; we have fewer children and therefore spend less time not menstruating. Increased work and family stresses, in addition to more periods, mean that women are more physically and psychologically vulnerable to negative attitudes to menstruation. So it is more important than ever that we investigate ways to make our periods physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy." ~From: Amazon.com
I plan to buy several more copies of this book to pass along to my girls.
I share with you a poem by Linda Gregg. It seemed to want to be here. :-)
Love & Blessings, ~Marion~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Precision
By Linda Gregg
There is a modesty in nature. In the small
if it and in the strongest. The leaf moves
just the amount the breeze indicates
and nothing more. In the power of lust, too,
there can be a quiet and clarity, a fusion
of exact moments. There is a silence of it
inside the thundering. And when the body swoons,
it is because the heart knows its truth.
There is directness and equipoise in the fervor,
just as the greatest turmoil has precision.
Like the discretion a tornado has when it tears
down building after building, house by house.
It is enough, Kafka said, that the arrow fit
exactly into the wound that it makes. I think
about my body in love as I look down on these
lavish apple trees and the workers moving
with skill from one to the next, singing.
~From: "Things and Flesh"
