THE BLESSING OF THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD, THE CANNABIS SEED, AND THE LIBERATED MIND

Happy Friday, y’all! The prompt for Day 5 of National Poetry Writing Month is to:

Start by taking a look at Alicia Ostriker’s poem, “The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog.” Now try your hand at writing your own poem about how a pair or trio very different things would perceive of a blessing or, alternatively, how these very different things would think of something else (luck, grief, happiness, etc).

Here is the written version:

THE BLESSING OF THE WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD, THE CANNABIS SEED, AND THE LIBERATED MIND

By Farah Lawal Harris, 2024

“To be blessed,”

said The Woman With The Issue of Blood,

“is to spend as much money on self-care as

I do on super plus tampons and extra-long, overnight maxi pads,

to never again bleed through my skirts and pants,

to live fibroid-free and balanced hormonally,

to maintain faith the size of a mustard seed.”

“To be blessed,”

said the cannabis seed,

“is to sprout, then uplift every soul who seeks me,

to never be the reason for penitentiary,

to never again be commodified and monetized,

to be appreciated for my beauty,

and not just the high.”

“To be blessed,”

said the liberated mind,

“is to evict all negative thoughts,

for it’s freedom time!

To connect to the Divine, to have God’s co-sign,

to act like dandelions, spreading positivity like weeds.

To be blessed

is to be free.”