Pratik : Pratik Current Issue Highlight : Celebrated American novelist and poet Sapphire's Menstruation Chant

Friday, September 8, 2023

Pratik Current Issue Highlight : Celebrated American novelist and poet Sapphire's Menstruation Chant

SAPPHIRE

I use metered text in this excerpt from my novel The Harlem Triology as a way of “rooting” these women in the rhythms of their bodies. The rhythm of the chant allows the reader to bond with the characters as the women seek to control and align their lives with female values in a patriarchal society. Menstruation rituals speak to a Regular, Rhythmic, and Repeated event that will shape approximately forty years of a woman’s life.

Menstruation Chant

I bleed and do not die

I am a woman

I ride the sky and do not die

I am a woman

Je saigne et je ne meurs pas

Je suis une femme

Je roule dans le ciel et je ne meurs pas

Je suis une femme.

Mwen senyen epi mwen pa mouri

Mwen senyen epi yo pa mouri

Mwen se yon fanm

Mwen kondi syel la epi mwen pa mouri

Mwen se yon fanm.

Sapphire became involved in the Slam Poetry movement writing, performing, and eventually publishing her work. She is the author of two collections of poetry Black Wings & Blind Angels (1999) and American Dreams (1994), and of the New York Times bestselling novels The Kid (2011) and Push (1996), which was the inspiration for the Academy Award-winning movie Precious.

Now Available on Amazon India, USA, UK & Canada