Possessing the Secret of Joy

I recently read Alice Walker's Possessing the Secret of Joy and I have to say that it is a definite must read. It is a wonderfully woven novel of the sadness, the fight, the confusion, the giving up, the giving in etc that women often do for family, for society. Its focus is on the effects of female circumcision and how to educate the world. It is about sorting through your past to live in your today. It about being married about being single. About being. It made me think of my own secret of joy. It made think of how we're viewed. How we lose ourselves in our children, in our husbands or the fact that some women simply don't want either. It made me think about dreams never reached because they didn't fit the mold. What is this secret,? This inner drive to be more or less, to work hard or call in, to just simply be who you are all day every day is something we all have, but may not have found (yet). This poem is for Women...every shape, every size, and in every walk of her life.

WOMEN
This poem is for you
it is for the woman who stripped out of her suit
into dirty jeans and an over sized t-shirt
to re-tile the floor because she asked
one too many times

it is for the woman who lost herself
in cereal necklaces, Play-doh
Spongebob and practices
but secretly sips martinis before she clocks in

it is for the woman who chose her career
and loves the fact that she can take
lavish vacations...biological clock on snooze

it is for the woman who wants to stay at home
learning every nook and cranny of her house
her children her husband and reading articles
about the women mentioned above

it is for the woman who didn't graduate
from high school but dares one her children
to not make it

it is for the woman who is barren and adopts
even though the husband says he will leave
for the woman who committed herself
just to get a break

it is for the woman who loves women secretly
but will marry that man her mama chose
for the woman who doesn't care buys a passport
to a place where she and her can unite

This is for the grandmother raising children
because her own was a free spirit dying to catch
something else, so she let her go
six years and she still hasn't heard from her.

it is for the woman raising a child all by herself
because for this reason or the other
daddy just didn't cut it

it is for the woman who carries a child for another
she doesn't mind sharing her blessing
for the woman who receives the child
neither has a dry eye

This is for women who are still learning
for those who know the roads they will
never walk again
for women who support, who are deathly honest
who know when to listen intently
who are totally comfortable in the skin their in
and those who want to make a few adjustments

Woman
It is in your walk, the way words linger on your
tongue hoping to be said again because you're just
that bad
it is in your ability to hold it all together
to let it all fall to prove a point
sneak away gently into the night
dive into yourself and re-learn your way out
You have been mutilated in every sense
yet are on a steady journey to empowerment

Yes, you, Woman, in the middle of this madness
are celebrated.