Menstruation

Postfeminismus

Silence becomes word
drop by drop

I am a woman, a poet
in this nothingness
that batters my body

egg that leaves my womb
every month
has a legend
in my body 

it has a trace

my womenhood
my Achilles toe 

my dog that barks every month

a man can’t be a poet
a man can be a pen for a poet

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Müesser Yeniay was born in İzmir. Her recent books include Before Me There Were Deserts (2014), Modern Readings in Turkish Literature (2016), and Permanent Talk with the Beloved (2017). She has translated the poetry of Ronny Someck, Attila F. Balazs, and Vietnamese poets Mai Van Phan and Nguyễn Quang Thiều. Her poetry books have been translated and published in the US, Hungary, France, India, Colombia, Spain, and Vietnam. She is the editor of the literature magazine Şiirden (of Poetry). She is currently pursuing a PhD in Turkish literature at Bilkent University, Ankara.