CATWISE CLOCK

terrifying/end/of the remnants/of her innocence."
This haunting tone wends its way through most of the pieces; rarely are we given space to
breathe (and with good reason). Suicide ("it was the first time I felt anything in so long"),
endless violence ("This poem cannot stop bullets/this page will not shield a bomb blast"),
mistreatment of black youth ('I will never know/the kind of fear/that is deep in the bones
of my Black kindred"), educational brainwashing ("they are unteaching our children/with
hollowed out imposters") - these are just some of the themes deftly, compassionately,
indignantly explored in "Bloodstories."
But there is levity: The more intriguing verses relate to the author's love of writing, her
wonder at having a period and being female, and sometimes, twining the two. [vandall]
manages this fusion well: "It is an endless wonder/what confessions poets murmur/in the
deeps of night/...blood oaths and bloodstories seeping into sheets/...Poetry was
here./scrawled on the walls of our wombs."
Or, how about [born], where Poetess writes: "Poetry hemorrhages from my gaping
flesh/...the eviscerated substance of my thrashing and thriving."
If this cycle of 28 poems has a centerpiece - and a few pieces do compete for that title - it
should be [lifeblood], where Poetess yearns for warm communion with other women: "I
long for the old/rituals of sabbatical/of sisters gathering every 28 days/...giving and
receiving bloodstories/affirming womanhood/cycling together/...in
sacred/blood/ceremonies."
As I enjoy these last years of uterine bloodletting (peri-menopause at least bestows the
gift of erratic periods), I feel more validated in my bloodsuffering than I have ever felt.
Nearly 50 years of being a woman, and about 37 years of menustration frustration, and
yet only now do I feel a certain blood-bond with my fellow female travelers. Thank you,
Jenuine Poetess.
Bloodstories, though, is for everyone who cares about injustice: "it is a collective wail/a
chorus of voices." Of course, it is specifically an homage to women, because: "it is our
howling outrage/a ghostly/ghastly/rasping/...we/the creators/life makers/originators of all
things/belonging no where/owning nothing/save two:/our blood/and/our truth."
Bloodstories yield bloodtruths, indeed.