When You Say Abortion

Here's the second collective poem from last night: (You can find the first poem here.) With this second poem, it seemed to work better to use the starting phrase only once, as the title. With both poems, I put in the verses in the order in which the slips of paper were given to me, and I tried to follow the line structure of the originals as much as I could. Now that these are down in "print," we can work with them and edit them as we choose.

When You Say Abortion

Billboard
Controversy
Who's right
Who's wrong
pain suffering
will there be a light at the end
of the tunnel.

You are talking about an issue
that is really none of your business
Stay out of it...It's up to me.

What if I hadn't been
born. I wouldn't be here to debate the issue.
When you say abortion
I say: Birth Control
Why not start
with that decision?

You think you have found the proof that any woman
who claims her own life must have innocent blood on her hands.

Let me come into the world now or not
it doesn't matter to me -- I am well
In your decision -- be well and love much

A seed
A flower
Should it live
or die
or take
responsibility
for actions

I think of Deborah, Tracy, Jean,
Julie, Terri, Grace, Susan, Amy, Brenda,
Mary, Bailey, Trina, Amber, Wendy...

I think every woman's choice
I chose to keep my child
but respect another woman's choice not to

It's My Body

Here's the first group poem from last night's Mary Daly discussion group. I ended up repeating the phrase "it's my body," because many of the segments didn't make sense without it.

It's My Body

It's my body.
My pleasure and delight are  my own,
but sometimes now I see my Grandmother in the mirror,
strong, soft, faded, fresh, vulnerable, powerful.

It's my body.
It's not a machine meant for making babies
and not some contraption designed to evoke delight in an outside observer.
It is me. It is my  home.

It's my body.
My spirit guides my body in its unique way.
to love and to birth.
I need no other spirit to interfere. Likewise
I shall not interfere with your spirit.

It's my body.
Justice means giving birth
Not giving birth
My body, my right -- poor, black, rich, white
all women

It's my body.
Everything about it belongs to me.
I will be the one to decide how it will be.
No one else has the right
to

It's my body.
and I'll do with it what I want to
let it be
run, jump, stand, roll
hold your arms
out and spin in
the sun.

It's my body.
Not your body.
I don't want yr insults or compliments
I can't believe we are still having this conversation
I blame you if I can't feed my baby
I can't afford your decisions