12 Comments
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David Solomon's avatar

Since she became a mother, I admire my wife more than I ever have before. I don’t know how you women do it. thank you for sharing. That is a hell of a poem.

Natalie Lucie's avatar

Thank you for reading and your kind words!

Madelleine Müller's avatar

Love this: “ Being a woman is not a gentle experience, why should we write like it is?” It’s sooooo f’ing true!! Thank you for sharing your poem, I loved it!

Natalie Lucie's avatar

Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts! I felt so compelled to share it, so even if one person connects to it, it’s worth it :-) thank you (and no it’s not a gentle experience!)

Fini Bearman's avatar

'Your empty arms ache (did his?), you wonder if they're crying'

Ooooof that packs a punch and has me to my knees!... The rawness of it is what I love - there's no skirting around the reality of holding all of these emotions and experiences in your hands at the same time... the contradiction & the primal drive to keep moving forward. Love it. xx

Natalie Lucie's avatar

Thank you Fini, I’m so glad I shared it. I think motherhood (and so much of womanhood) is so raw, that it’s hard to express it without writing about in this raw way. I was nervous to share but so glad I did. Xx

Thea Wood's avatar

50% of the population can relate and would buy the single… hint?

Natalie Lucie's avatar

Ha, thank you. Hmmm maybe there is a song here….!

Lizabeth Yandel's avatar

Whooo yes the rage is real. It's a challenge to not let it turn into resentment sometimes. The resentment feels like shit, but rage is pretty empowering if I can channel it. Poetry is a good place for it... thankfully there's a long tradition of raging angry lady poets to back us up 😂

thanks for being courageous and sharing this! It's a process for all of us to stop being afraid or ashamed of our anger

Natalie Lucie's avatar

Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts, and yes to the many vocal, raging women who’ve written poems, often during far more difficult eras to express their truth, heroines! 🙌

Lizabeth Yandel's avatar

Yes. And I meant to mention my favorite part!:

Don’t complain

No excuses

Women fought for this

(Did they fight for this?)

Deal with it in the toilet

So raw. It's unbelievable that women make and raise all the humans, and yet it makes people uncomfortable for us to talk about how hard it is. If this poem makes anyone too uncomfortable, frankly, they should toughen up lol

Natalie Lucie's avatar

Thank you! I was super nervous to share as it is quite raw, but it came from a place of truth I needed to purge! Xx