Poem-a-Day - "Menopause" by C. Prudence Arceneaux

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April 29, 2022

Menopause

C. Prudence Arceneaux

For further reference: I go to love
like a fire engine to a three-alarm, flashing

and spinning, yelling across town. Nothing
to be afraid of: the ceiling falling, windows

concave, doors bowed and stiff. My body
parts fall to, like I was made of the heat.

Everyone watches, chest-clutching, pointing.
Inhalation will surely be the cause of my death.

Urban myth says an aging vagina once
well-used will shrink from lack of exercise.

I would think, instead, like the collar of a sweater,
stretched, gaping. Or a fish out of water,

grasping for purchase. A soft pop every time
you check to see whether or not it is dead.

I want a song to be written about me: black
pearls, sulfur, bronze-plated silver. It should

have a verse about blood-soaked hands,
a chorus that is a shout of AAAAAHHHHH!

[Sing it with me: AAAAAHHHHH!]

It won’t be a song where someone stares into
lit windows from the end of a driveway on the last note.

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“Menopause came early for me, although not early enough. I spent most of my early twenties trying to find a doctor who would remove my perfectly healthy reproductive parts. Too few people believed someone so young could know what she wanted and what she did not want. So, I did what any good nerd would do: I read as much as I could about menopause so I’d be prepared for both sides of the argument. And because learning never stops, I still read books about menopause. Recently, I ran across Flash Count Diary. I remember one section in particular that talked about the freedoms during this stage of life: the freedom from childcare, the freedom from matronly duties, the freedom from being beautiful, and the freedom from derailing sexual desires. And the first thing I thought as I slammed the book shut was, I WILL NOT. Because, what is life without some derailing sexual desires?”
—C. Prudence Arceneaux

C. Prudence Arceneaux is the author of Liberty (Finishing Line Press, 2021). She is a professor of English and creative writing at Austin Community College in Austin, where she lives.

Liberty
(Finishing Line Press, 2021)

“Did anyone ever ask any one of Nikita’s daughters” by francine j. harris
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“Self-Portrait as a Body, a Sea” by Donika Kelly
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Thanks to Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Cast Away: Poems for Our Time (Greenwillow Books, 2021), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Listen to a Q&A about Nye’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year.

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