Photo by Emerson Little
“The time I’d planned to hike the rim to rim to rim of the Grand Canyon with three athletic friends—all non-menstruating fellows—only to wake at four AM and find myself bleeding and no protection (it was way too early, but you know it kind of shows up when it wants anyway), and one of their girlfriends, who wasn’t hiking with us, when I whispered to her, only had a slender regular. A. Slender. Regular. Right. Which I took, of course.”
Enjoy this audio recording of “Ode to Women Who Bleed—A Lot” by Irena Praitis from Vol. 34:1 of CALYX Journal! Buy your copy here!
Irena Praitis is a professor of creative writing and literature at California State University, Fullerton. She has published six books, most recently Rods and Koans (Red Mountain Press).