Woman, Writer, Poet, Mother

writing is the intersections, writing is the whole, writing is all of who we are

I am a poet and a writer. It has taken me some time to say this with some degree of confidence. Though I still always say it with awe, and glee, and some reverence. And also, okay, some disbelief. I love this so much, I have always loved this so much — so is it really real now? Sometimes it is. Here it is. I am working at it every day. So, yes it is really real now.

I am writing this to you today because I wrote a poem. I wrote a poem about politics, and misogyny, about feminism, about anger, about toxic masculinity and mass shootings, about our culture that enables it with both entertainment and elections.

And I was afraid to put it out. Not totally afraid. But this little voice kept saying, oh you might scare people away. You might push readers away. You might not succeed if you share this much feeling.

And I needed to address this in myself. I am not afraid of my anger, my rage, really, at the state of this world. And I do not need to be liked or known or appreciated for just some parts of who I am. That is after all, part of the overall problem. Seeing women as one thing, one way, and not hearing us when we have to tell you something, — you as in society, as in this culture, as in what things get allowed and excused, — we need you to see and hear all of us, all of who we are.

The poems about love, romance, about marriage, about family, yes, see them.

The poems about life observations, haikus about sweet moments, yes, see them.

But also, the poems about deep hurt, deep pain, deep anger when it comes to misogyny, when it comes to violence against women, when it comes to the known and factual connections between what our culture views as okay entertainment (porn, rape jokes, sexism in movies) and what our culture has happen every ten seconds, — rape, domestic violence, assault, abuse, mass shootings rooted in incel and racist cultures that are fueled by the same systems of hatred and oppression.

My job as a writer is to highlight connections, to bring that which is in the dark into the light. To expose. To share. To give of myself. To resonate. To relate. To be read. To be heard.

My job as a poet is to observe, break down, connect emotionally, sometimes delight, sometimes inflict deep feeling.

My job as a woman is to try to tell you — society’s you — that I exist, just like this, and this experience, this feeling, this anger, this fear, this disappointment, matters. And to help other women stop stop stop suffering from internalized misogyny. Please. It hurts us all.

My job as a teacher and Sociologist is to make connections, to highlight structures, to build awareness, to fight for justice.

My job as a white person is to be anti-racist. To give my best effort all the time. To use my privilege to expose and disclose.

My job as a mother is to make this world a better place for my daughter in every single way that I possibly can. And to prepare her for what it might be like if I fail, if we fail.

My job as a partner is to love, and to grow, and to be all of me and loved for it, and to let my love be all of him and loved for it.

My job as a human is to try to reach the most enlightened state I can in this life, to work on the self love, the self acceptance, the self knowing, and the selflessness in being a better person in efforts to help others, make things better for others, seek out connections with others.

I bring all of this to the table, every day. It is all a part of me. My writing is me.

The humor, the delight, the love of love and family, the love of silliness and haiku, and the deep and almost frantic need to get things out there about climate change, race/racism, gender/sexism, oppression, social justice, that will make this world a better place because someone read something I wrote, perhaps, and made a connection, and changed. Changed what they do, what they think, who and what they support, what they allow to happen.

Writing is about the reader, certainly. But it is also about being open, being authentic, being real, and being there for people in ways that are important and appreciated. I value that I have this opportunity to write, to share, to connect. I value that I have this voice to give.

I just wanted to somehow make it known that for women writers, it still is not all that easy. What we say may be dismissed. What we say may be a turn off. What we say may cost us in terms of fans and audience. Or not. Or not. Or not.

The goal of it all is to make this society where people can share their truth and not have the fear of being trivialized, being laughed off, being hurt or harmed or shot up in a Wal-Mart. The goal of it all is to get those who cannot see realities due to being so lost in their own privilege — white privilege, male privilege, rich privilege, straight privilege, — to start seeing realities and seeing their privilege, and making a change.

When the anger of the oppressed becomes heard for what it is, — pain, pain, and pain, — then we can have hope for healing something in this world.

Thank you for reading, thank you for listening, thank you for sharing your voice, your work.

Thank you for being about that writing life and about that justice life.

It is all connected. We are all connected.

Jenny Justice is a mom, Sociology instructor, and writer. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. She has been recognized as a Top Writer on Medium in Poetry, Parenting, Reading, Education, Books, Racism, and Climate Change, so far.