pandamonium

the moon is always female and so am i
although often in this vale of razorblades
i have wished i could put on and take off my sex like a dress and why not?
do men wear their sex always?
the priest, the doctor, the teacher all tell us they come to their professions neuter as clams and the truth is when i work i am pure as an angel tiger and clear is my eye and hot my brain and silent all the whining grunting piglets of the appetites.
for we were priests to the goddesses to whom were fashioned the first altars of clumsy stone on stone and leaping animal in the wombdark caves, long before men put on skirts and masks to scare babies.
for we were healers with herbs and poultices with our milk and careful fingers long before they began learning to cut up the living by making jokes at the dead.
for we were making sounds from out throats and lips to warn and encourage the helpless long before schools were built to teach boys to obey and be bored and kill. . . .

"the moon is always female," marge piercy