The prompt for a few weeks time from Meeghan is to create a book poem from 5 books on our shelf. The poem I created ended up having a feminist vibe, so I decided to publish it on a Wednesday as it is International Women’s Day.
It is called a Women’s work is never done. The first book I used was the biography of an MP Harriet Harman who’s book was titled a woman’s work with the implication it is never done.
The second book Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is about the struggles of a female chemist in the 1960s. She has to battle to prove herself. She becomes a Mother and compromises by presenting a tv cookery show but she uses it as an opportunity to empower women by teaching them ‘lessons in chemistry’ . I wrote the poem shortly after reading it.
The third book stuck out to me because the title is so fun! So I chucked it in as part of a list of things women get on and do in their lives. How to measure a cow is by Margaret Forster. I like that she did not use her husbands surname to publish her books!
The poem finishes with describing a woman after a busy day putting children to bed. Lullaby is a book by Leila Slimani who is an interesting author that I have seen speak as she is Muslim from Morocco living in Paris. I have also read her collection of essays called Love, Sex and Lies and her other fictional work Adele.
Kiss, kiss fitted with Lullaby. I had not been particularly trying to right a feminist poem so this turned out to be the only book by a male writter. It is a collection of short stories for adults by Roald Dahl.
A Woman’s Work is Never done
A woman’s work;
Lessons in chemistry,
How to measure a cow,
Lullaby, Kiss, kiss
Wonderwall 