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A Rosary of Woman Things
by Suzette Haden Elgin
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Praise be to all neglected
woman-things, called trivial, called shameful, time out of mind. We will
name them over and over again to do them honor.
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Beautiful is the woman-blood,
constant as the moon;
crowning the months of a woman, velvet and scarlet, carrying the nourishment
of the living, in case it should be needed; easily offered and no return
demanded, free and wholesome and always freshly made.
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Beautiful is the woman-flesh,
abundant as the light;
changing as the earth changes, storing fat beneath it against the
long winters when all the food there is may have to be given
away to the young and the male,
that have no such
provision.
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Beautiful are the wrinkles
and the lines,
bountiful as the
beds of streams and rivers; formed on the face and throat by the
flow of time, proudly and joyfully worn, and no beard needed.
Beautiful also the silver lines made by the growing babe on the strong
sheltering belly of its mother.
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Beautiful are the many-colored
quilts;
splendid as sewn
rainbows, various in their patterns. Beautiful the crazy quilt
that lets nothing be wasted; beautiful the friendship quilt that
helps us remember; beautiful the fancy quilts like cathedral windows,
but without their shameful squandering of this world's goods, beautiful
the plain quilts that warm both eye and body. Beautiful also the
listing of their names -- Love in the Mist. Log Cabin. Basket of
Flowers.
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Beautiful are the ways
of a woman's hair;
loose in the sunlight,
loose on a rounding pillow, braided in many braids, wound in a diadem,
combed tight to the head like a scarf of satin, wild in a froth of curls
like a flower that does not fret. And let us honor especially the
white hair of the old woman, as snow honors the earth at the end of autumn.
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Beautiful are the letters
that women write each other,
preserving their
days, setting them aside for later, that they may be examined again and
well remembered, and still more learned from them; saying "I was just thinking
of you and I thought I'd write." Saying, "Know you are dear to me; know
you are in my heart."
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Beautiful are the words
that women say,
ample in their
patience as glowing water; beautiful are those words going round
corners in search of what does good. Praise be to all neglected woman
things, called trivial, called shameful, called foolish, time out
of mind. We will name them over and over again to do them honor.
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"Rosary of Woman things"
was published in "The Beltane Papers, A Journal of Women's Mysteries"
Issue Six -- Winter/Spring 1995.
Published by, The Brideswell
Collective, 1333 Lincoln St. #174, Bellingham WA 98226.
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