last night I ventured from my comfort zone
challenged by Megha to read a poem publicly
found the poetry group in my new rural town
just happened to be ‘women’s’ night
five token men only the convenor performed
published poetry from women he knew well
around sixty feisty women and many read
quality was high but two resonated deeply
forty year old performed her own about
choosing not to have children, her ‘role’
is to love more people not just her offspring
and a 72 yo lady treating her ‘feral fanny’
for cancer, her humour resounded deeply,
her daughters there for support
such a pleasure to meet many strong women
will return to learn why men were not there
their absence seemed like lack of support
so curious to know why they avoided …

watching such talented ‘performers’ gave me much needed clues should I read publicly again!