"A JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES ... "

I have several anthologies of poetry written by women. They span centuries and cultures and geography. I love to listen to the differing voices and gaze inward at the myriad pictures they paint.

I am especially drawn to these books when I hear phrases like, "Women are ..." , "Women like .. " or "All women ...". You can fill in those blanks with any number of inanities, that seek to reduce half the world's population into tiny little boxes. In these books, however, no two voices are the same. Each is whole and unto itself, as are we all. (In the interest of full disclosure, I myself, am a woman.)



I decided to embark on a bit of a world tour, on the distaff side that is. So, for a while I will be posting poems from women all over the world.




The anthology I am using is Aint' I A Woman! A Book of Woman's poetry From Around the World, Edited by Illona Linthwaite.



My first offering is from Mahsati, twelfth century, Iran. It was translated from Farsi by Deirdre Lashgari.


QUATRAINS

Better to live as a rogue and a bum,
a lover all treat as a joke,
to hang out with a crowd of comfortable drunks,
than crouch in a hypocrite's cloak.

Unless you can dance through a common bar,
with a vagabond's step, you're not going to make it.
This is the road of the restless who gamble
their lives; risk yours, or your not going to make it.

GREEN IS A GOOD COLOR

In Foundation, Issac Asimov said (as Salvor Hardin) "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

Our world seems to be awash in incompetence these days.

Political discussions are so often bereft of common sense or empathy, something that frustrates and confounds me. We look at the struggles in the world around us, and often forget that we have been there too. It can be very tempting to step in where we are not needed, but just as devastating are the times we fail with our support when it is needed. I'm not talking about guns and bombs, but a true respect for all human rights, the spirit of our own constitution; forgetting economics, and saying, "No! This is unacceptable!"

I am following the valiant struggle for justice going on in Iran at this moment. There is so much I would like to say, but my thoughts are muddled so silence would be the better choice.


The green ribbon at left is their symbol for victory, and below it I have posted a feed with current information. It links to The Daily Dish, by Andrew Sullivan, a respected British blogger and political commentator. There is an almost real time following of the events on the internet as they unfold. The internet has given us a way around the censorship and propaganda of the oppressors as well as the disinterest of a profit driven media.