while i'm not there yet, i am drawn to this gorgeous poem by lucille clifton. i'm planning a huge party for my one-year anniversary after my final menstrual period, and you're all invited. we don't sufficiently honor these important rites of passage for women: final period, miscarriage, abortion. thank you, fleur, dear patient of mine, for introducing me to this lovely poet and choosing an appropriate quilt to match!
to my last period
well girl, goodbye,
after thirty-eight years.
thirty-eight years and you
never arrived
splendid in your red dress
without trouble for me
somewhere, somehow.
now it is done,
and i feel just like
the grandmothers who,
after the hussy has gone,
sit holding her photograph
and sighing, wasn't she
beautiful? wasn't she beautiful?
-Lucille Clifton
From Lucille Clifon's book Quilting: Poems, 1987-1990 (BOA, 1991)
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