WOMAN

An outpouring of my thoughts and feelings around International Women's Day this year, dedicated to all the women in my life but above all to the one who showed me how it's done: Mum.

The one who taught me how to be a man

Was Her whose strength outshone

The shrewdest intellect,

the most brutal force

A will to power beyond.

It’s not in cubic measurements

Nor gruff masculine posturing

Bookies’ coupons clutched in tight, white fists

Professional athletes screamed at

By mobs of wide-eyed, beer-bellied fanatics

The misdirected aggression of

Supposedly heroic men.

Neither the professional classes,

And successful businessmen, who

Hide their rage and insecurity

Through inclement sneering

And barely concealed bigotry

Whose worth is measured in wealth

And stark material misgivings.

The myth of meritocracy

Has all its life force sustained

By men who cover their weakness

Clinging on to desperate control

Of a persona whose meaning

Has long since been drained.

Men’s worth lurks in the dark imagination

Of so-called friends and would-be rivals

But listen closely and you’ll hear

Her beating heart is clear.

No, the keenest eyes could see

That Mother is the King of Earth

The Queen in shining pearls

The tyrant of the masses

The Wise One in the shadows.

All is fine until it’s not

For those who suffer when

all control is lost

when all the evidence suggests

that force and dominance

are just an infinite jest.

But She knows this, and accepts

that beyond the pale of order

Only chaos reigns.

She looks life and death in the eye

And driven on, simply asks

What is to be done?

Though She may well lament the scythe.

The great mystery of it all

Won’t be understood by reason

But listen closely and you’ll hear

Her beating heart comes near.

What sisterhood comprehends

Over fraternity transcends

These futile competitions

Watching your fucking Strava

While She looks wearily on

Wearing a wry smile.

Because She knows more than they know

That from a deep wellspring within

There comes an ancient intuition

that men have ignored and deride

for too long they run and hide

so comprehension won’t begin.

She sees, She knows, She acts

The backbone of our very culture

The ones who for so long have

Kept calm and carried on.

It wasn’t the leaders they cheered

As the virus swept the world

It was the nurses and the carers

who selflessly gave hope, as

from locked down windows we peered.

A power is growing now

Breaking down old gender roles

Just listen closely and you’ll hear

Her love overcomes fear.

Lost and adrift, the questions remain

Reminders piercing every day

Straight to the heart with burning pain

To measure against the standards of others

Who am I, and what is Man?

These offshoots misdirected

In the labyrinth of Anima

A deeper knowledge soon detected.

The worn persona of Man is

contained in his greatest fears

Worthless

Useless

Of no economic value

Unloved

Forgotten

Why are you still here?

The biggest killer of men aged 18-30 is suicide

So work hard to impress your peers.

Yet she resides in us all, and

Her eternal lessons vibrate

Gratitude

Love

Appreciation

Family

Friendships

Trust, remain

Understanding that we’re all together

There’s no need to hide your shame.

What we lack is true understanding

Of her calling softly at length

Hidden underneath all the noise

That vulnerability is strength.

As the movement grew

I looked on from the wings,

hiding my scorn and disdain.

Herstory, sheroes, the future is female.

While manhood was brought to proclaim

Its tenure as landlord and master of all

Crashing down all round our heads

Generations of men, raised by women

Sold stories of heroism and fame.

But washing up on the shores

A new consciousness is growing

Shadows come whispers come awakening.

And though She goes by many names

Great Danu,

Anu,

Gaia

by the brilliant red of a new dawn

comes now Her time

to be

Re-born.