Gut Check: A Poem

I attended the 2009 Take Back the Night poetry slam, originally planning on politely listening to the poetry offered by others. Toward the end, though, I got up the guts after a few, "do you have something to read?"'s. I ended up reading this poem, which I wrote in Spring 2008. I wrote it to sort out some issues I had with religion and femininity, after a particularly interesting discussion I had with my Intro to Religion professor, Dr. Loren Lybarger. 

It's called "Gut Check."

The eyes are the windows to the soul 
Yet this woman reveals hers to me, 
the only part of her body she allows me to see.

Age twelve, she screams. 
not of the pain of the knife 
but of the pain of losing what's being cut from her:
womanhood, sexuality, independence. 

Is it modesty? piety? tradition, religion.
Is it her choice? 

This woman cannot tell her own story; 
others interpret her fears, ambitions, pain.
They tell it for her. 

"She loves her veil."
"No,she hates it." 
it protects her.
no, it silences her. 

She is not the object 
of the guerilla's unyeilding desires – 
a comfort. 

At what cost must this comfort come? 
To have a voice, 
to embrace her womanhood, 
is forbidden. 

Is she happy? 
I suppose I couldn't know, 
me, the submissive, modest young woman, 
ashamed of mine.

I could cradle myself
in a nest of swaddling black robes, 
peek my eyes out 
and immerse myself in her role, 
be contented, feel relieved. 

But would she, in my baggy sweaters, 
shake herself free?
Does she crave a voice 
as I hide mine? 

Do her eyes reveal the womanhood 
I try to cover, 
veiling my curves, 
my voice, 
myself?



The book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi includes lots of comical (and serious) commentary on the subject of the veil during the Iranian Revolution.
If you haven't already...read it. Posted below is a video of Satrapi, discussing the implications of her book and the movie on the way those who've read it view Iranians. 





"it's a movie about love, about family, about the human being"
--marjane satrapi