Alex Edwards’ Womanifesto
Irigaray wrote that as women
we are always plural:
two lips touching each other,
secretly, constantly.
as women we are always two,
and more than two, and more
than we can count.
i feel this
daily.
Which woman will I be today?
the poet
the priestess
the prostitute.
slip them on and off
like panties;
when one gets dirty
just change.
i think the greatest damage the patriarchy has done to our psyches is
to tell us we can only be one thing. the virgin or the whore. but
mary magdalene was prostitue and priestess. the virgin mary wasn't a
virgin forever.
these are the things they don't want to tell us.
i want to honor
that ability in women
to be plural
to be not pin-down-able
to be the one, the more than one,
the more than we can count.
the mother
the lover
the warrior
the goddess
the plain jane
the ruckus
the refuse
the refused
the not-refusable.
the knower
the known
the unknowable.
the many and more.
i want to honor it in myself by seeking to cultivate my women. the
ones inside me. the ones only i know. the ones only i might be able
to see.
i want to be able to be any woman.
everywoman.
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