Friday, January 20, 2012
"To My Last Period"
Honestly, after reading this poem I was at odds on how to take the concept. On one hand, which I suspect might be among the more primal emotions, I can understand how menopause could make a woman more insecure and perhaps even doubt herself. On the other, this feeling I suspect stems from my more modern sensibilities, is basically that of a celebration. The phrase that I believe really displays my second emotion is: "without trouble for me/somewhere, somehow." Although, by addressing the biological process of mestruation as "a hussy", this brought up very negative connotations. It brought to my head the saying that only "hussies" got their period because they were sexually active. Though I like to believe that humanity has come a long way since then. This lead me to wonder if the author herself is struggling with whether menopause makes her any less of a woman, and is struggling with this new change. This is shown when the speaker is: "sit holding her photograph/and sighing, wasn't she/beautiful? wasn't she beautiful?" (12-15). So I guess that the whole poem is about being unsure how to take this event, and perhaps submitting to socities whims. After all, only young, fertile women are beautiful.
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I was always under the (possibly horribly wrong) assumption that women actually looked forward to menopause because then they didn't have to deal with that so called "time of the month" anymore. However, I can see why women would want to hold on to menustration, as it is when makes women inherently female.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of this particular poem are the last two lines. I feel that the italics really emphasis the feeling that Clifton is trying to get across to the reader. I see this poem as nostalgic, and reflecting on beauty that youth encompasses, and how old age slowly takes that away, among other things.
ReplyDeleteI love Ben and Ryan's comments and feel that this post is spot on. While having a period every month is irritating, it is much like anything else: you don't know what you have until you lose it. A woman's menstruation is something that she has become used to, a part of her, and losing it is like losing something that makes her who she is.
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