Poem: "Redrawing the Lines"

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here is today's freebie poem, inspired by kyleri.

Redrawing the Lines

Thou art God.
Thou art Goddess.

Thus the lines are drawn,
men in this circle,
women in that circle.

Where do I stand?
When do I stand there?
What do I wear while I'm doing that?

I am neither here nor there,
this nor that.  I am as much
male as female,
feminine as masculine.

In what aspect of the Divine
do I see my reflection?

"Ahey, sister," says Trickster,
settling on my left shoulder.
He is wearing a loud pink skirt
and a brassiere stuffed with flowers.

"Ahey, brother," says Trickster,
settling on my right shoulder.
She is wearing leather pants
and a huge phallus made of paisley cloth.

He hands me a pointed stick.
"It's time to draw your own lines,"
he says, so I scratch a circle
around my bare feet.

She hands me a drum.
"It's time to dance to your own beat,"
she says, so I flatten my hand on the head
and make music.

Soon all of the men and women
are staring
at my divine madness.

Comments

Re: Yes...

[paka.livejournal.com]

Well that's rather rudely dismissive of maidens, crones, and women whose bits were removed for medical reasons. You'd think they would at least accept a pair of X chromosomes.

That's what I thought, too. The Dianics sort of argued it as being about some sort of inherent womanhood, when frankly I felt they were arguing femaleness as defined on a genetic basis. To be fair, that argument may not have been thought through very completely since everyone involved no matter what side was emotional and cranky.

Another reason for being careful with gender dynamics in ritual is that, if you break someone's favorite devotee, sometimes the Divine Ones get annoyed and decide to beat you with a clue-by-four.

The big reason I was involved in the kerfluffle was that the aftereffects of arbitrary bigotry spilled into my duty station, which was the con's Hospitality Suite. Excited discussion of rituals is what we want going on in Hospitality, sobbing, painfully upset folks who got turned back at the door aren't. The people running the ritual may not have pissed off a god, but it sure hit other places in the community, which I wanted to bring up. That was back in February and I'm still very sore about that.

Re: Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>The Dianics sort of argued it as being about some sort of inherent womanhood, when frankly I felt they were arguing femaleness as defined on a genetic basis.<<

Dianics, well, there's your problem! That tradition can be very helpful for women who have been damaged by men and/or patriarchal religions -- but it does not work and play well with others. It's best kept on a private, invitation-only basis, because in public the result is almost always exactly what you saw: discrimination causing great upset.

>>Excited discussion of rituals is what we want going on in Hospitality, sobbing, painfully upset folks who got turned back at the door aren't. <<

Yeah, that really sucks. At a public event, it's absolutely crucial to arrange programming for maximum reach. Otherwise people tend to get upset, which can sour the event and not necessarily just for them. There are events I pretty much won't go back to because multiple counts of oppression do not make for a fun trip.

>>The people running the ritual may not have pissed off a god, but it sure hit other places in the community, which I wanted to bring up. That was back in February and I'm still very sore about that.<<

Good for you. This stuff deserves discussion.