Anura - Poetry of Ellen Jaffe

ANURA
Stop the abuse, Start the healing

Poetry of Ellen Jaffe

The Wombless Woman

The wombless woman
lost it
at the movies
when she was raped
the first time
when she lost her virginity
or the last time
when she lost herself
when she was hit
when she was called "whore"
         "stupid"
               "a girl"
          or nothing at all
when she was bad
when she was good
when she was invisible
when she was eaten by bears or wolves
when she found her glass slipper
when she was tamed
when she turned wild, without knowing it
when she put on red dancing shoes
and when she took them off
when she was probed medically
and when she was tortured
and when she changed her sex
and when they told her she wasn't "a real woman"
when she was Iphigenia, or Cassandra
Ophelia, or Juliet
when she starved herself
or ate too many pills
when she bound her feet
shaved her legs
curled or straighened her hair
plucked her eyebrows
had her clitoris slit
lifted her face

the wombless woman
still smiles, like Mona Lisa
but you never know
what she is thinking

she wants
            to be heard
she wants
             to speak
she wants...

Please note that all poetry is Copyright © by Ellen Jaffe
The Wombless Woman was previously published in Diviners Volume 2, Issue 4 Winter ,1997