Friday, January 19, 2018

POEM: "A Man Like Me" (Thelma Reyna)

Poet Laureate Thelma T. Reyna (Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology 2016, Golden Foothills Press), Huffington Post (May 23, 2015) edited by Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly


She has gotten used to her men's clothes,
and intends to spend the rest of her life in them.
“I have decided to die in these clothes.”
“Egyptian Woman Dressed Like Man for More Than
40 Years to Provide for Family” (Huffington Post*)

They never asked me why I grew no beard, no
whiskers on my chin, why my face is skinny like a
girl’s. Never looked to see where I went to
pee, never saw me squat behind dirt piles, apart from
trenches dank with stench. Never asked why I
grunted when they spoke in my direction, my
turbaned head wordless and low.

I sat on earth for meals with them, their beards
tangled with dust and sweat. We molded bricks and
fired these as our ancestors did, each hour of toil
measured in milliemes and piastres, our leather hands
counting coins when the sun shimmied itself to sleep
and we shouldered tools at dusk on different paths
to villages and rest.

Abu Daooh to my daughter Houda. I say my name as I
undress: Abu Daooh when the clothes fall from my back and
legs, from my small breasts flat and sad. I say my name to me
alone in bed, to pillow, walls, and windows black. I had no
school, never held a book, but had a husband
once, and held him in my arms, and when he died, I
kept his clothes.

LIVE EVENT: Reading Tea Leaves After Trump
Pasadena, Los Angeles, Thursday, January 25, 2018 6:00-8:00 PM

    Are you making fun of me?
  • LIVE: Meet the artist, Altadena Poet Laureate Thelma T. Reyna.
  • Behold: Protest Performance Art and author book signing!
  • Meet ten local poets chosen to perform sections of the new book!
  • Thursday, Jan. 25th, 6:00-8:00 PM
  • Wright Auditorium (FREE)
  • Pasadena Central Library
  • 285 East Walnut Street
  • Pasadena, CA 91101 
  • (626) 744-4066
Reading Tea Leaves After Trump (T. T. Reyna)

*Egyptian woman dressed like man for more than 40 years to provide for family
Eline Gordts (Huffington Post, May 23, 2015)


It's not easy giving up your femininity.
For more than four decades, Egyptian mother Sisa Abu Daooh dressed as a man to provide for her family. Last week, she was awarded the “woman breadwinner” award by the authorities in her hometown of Luxor and was congratulated in person by the Egyptian president.
 
You are making fun of me! Wipe knock it off!
Abu Daooh, 65, was celebrated on Sunday in a ceremony at the Egyptian presidential palace, where she met Pres. Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi and received a prize of about $6,500, Agence France Presse reports.

Wearing a traditional male robe and turban while receiving the award, Abu Daooh was praised by the president as “an exemplary working woman.” More
at

No comments:

Post a Comment