I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE

One day when I pregnant with my second child, a man in a store walked up to me, stared at my round belly, blurted out, "I hope to God you have a boy!" and kept walking.

I was shocked. Scared, actually. You feel vulnerable with a big, protruding belly. You can't move quickly. But, on this day I remember having my wits about me enough to snap back, "Oh, really? Well, I don't. I think women are great!" But, the man just kept furtively moving on. He wasn't interested in a dialogue.

However, I've never forgotten that moment.

A complete stranger wanted me to have a boy so badly that they felt they had permission to say so to my face. Well, to my belly.

Look, it's not that I dislike men, I love men, but I don't want to be one. And, I do not need to have one to feel complete. How could anyone feel one gender is superior to another.

To rue a child's gender seems to me the deepest of crimes. We are born who we are. We deserve love no matter who we are.

To suffer parental disrespect due to one's gender is tragic.

Part of my own celebrating having survived gender bias in my life (and I have) is by really taking the time to really relish that which is entirely female about myself. Maybe I don't do this enough, but it's very healing when I take the time to appreciate that side of my self.

I love being a woman and getting a chance to be a mother to two wonderful, girls.

I am so rich with good fortune to have this opportunity in my life.

I guess that's why I am so excited to discover this work by Eve Ensler, today.

Check it out:


I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE

I love being a girl.
I can feel what you're feeling
as you're feeling it inside
the feeling
before.
I am an emotional creature.
Things do not come to me
as intellectual theories or hard-shaped ideas.
They pulse through my organs and legs
and burn up my ears.
I know when your girlfriend's really pissed off
even though she appears to give you what
you want.
I know when a storm is coming.
I can feel the invisible stirrings in the air.
I can tell you he won't call back.
It's a vibe I share.

I am an emotional creature.
I love that I do not take things lightly.
Everything is intense to me.
The way I walk in the street.
The way my mother wakes me up.
The way I hear bad news.
The way it's unbearable when I lose.

I am an emotional creature.
I am connected to everything and everyone.
I was born like that.
Don't you dare say all negative that it's a
teenage thing
or it's only only because I'm a girl.
These feelings make me better.
They make me ready.
They make me present.
They make me strong.

I am an emotional creature.
There is a particular way of knowing.
It's like the older women somehow forgot.
I rejoice that it's still in my body.

I know when the coconut's about to fall.
I know that we've pushed the earth too far.
I know my father isn't coming back.
That no one's prepared for the fire.
I know that lipstick means
more than show.
I know that boys feel super-insecure
and so-called terrorists are made, not born.
I know that one kiss can take
away all my decision-making ability
and sometimes, you know, it should.

This is not extreme.
It's a girl thing.
What we would all be
if the big door inside us flew open.
Don't tell me not to cry.
To calm it down
Not to be so extreme
To be reasonable.
I am an emotional creature.
It's how the earth got made.
How the wind continues to pollinate.
You don't tell the Atlantic ocean
to behave.

I am an emotional creature.
Why would you want to shut me down
or turn me off?
I am your remaining memory.
I am connecting you to your source.
Nothing's been diluted.
Nothing's leaked out.
I can take you back.

I love that I can feel the inside
of the feelings in you,
even if it stops my life
even if it hurts too much
or takes me off track
even if it breaks my heart.
It makes me responsible.
I am an emotional
I am an emotional, devotional,
incandotional, creature.
And I love, hear me,
love love love
being a girl.

_____________________________

I love all this "Girl Power." I'm going to read this to my girls so often that they'll know it by heart.

There's so much to love about this poem. So much, but right now I'm particularly struck by the lines:

"I am an emotional creature.
It's how the earth got made.
How the wind continues to pollinate.
You don't tell the Atlantic ocean
to behave."

It's not the first time recently I've thought "Fuck you, world. We suffer so much for your evolution and yet you degrade us? Try living without us or the complicated mechanisms we endure for your survival. Just try."