The Museum of the Menovulatory Lifetime

"sometimes a little lighter, sometimes a little heavier"

April 2007

BLOODBATH when I was 14 my alcoholic mother started taking Valium and with her screaming dawn 'til dark who could possibly keep track of their period once at the end of US History, I bled through a pair of old blue pants when I stood up I could see blood on the chair and floor, and so could everyone else bloodbath where's the harm in it there's no harm in it at all what do you think's pumping through all our hearts, anyway? it's not like the scene at Columbine High School on Adolph Hitler's birthday two boys in trench coats ten victims lying in their own blood on the library floor it's not like that it's not like that at all if the endometrium doesn't bathe a fertilized egg then the blood is shed and that's all there is to it out of high school I was a live-in nanny wearing yellow drawstring pants and going for a walk not knowing I'd started my period 'til I saw bright red upon returning the wife said nothing to me but the very next morning she laughed politely saying she of all people didn't need a live-in nanny bloodbath where's the threat in it there's no threat in it at all what do you think's pumping through all our hearts, anyway? it's not like the job driving a yellow taxi a college sophomore enjoyed one summer until stabbed to death so much of her blood in it they had to burn the cab it's not like that it's not like that at all if the endometrium doesn't bathe a fertilized egg then the blood is shed and that's all there is to it

Heart by Daisy Hulme, © 2000

At menopause once my mom stood at grandma's sink running hot water for dishes when I noticed the stain spreading down her pants, I thought the sink had started to overflow when I let her know she said she already knew she had put on her last three super maxipads and grandma hadn't kept that kind of stuff in the house for decades bloodbath where's the shame in it there's no shame in it at all what do you think's pumping through all our hearts, anyway? it's not like grandpa surviving WWII by repairing bomb-damaged power stations, noticing yet another river flowing red with soldiers' blood it's not like that it's not like that at all if the endometrium doesn't bathe a fertilized egg then the blood is shed and that's all there is to it - Geneva Kachman

From Salon.com: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 01:17 PM, from "anonymous," in response to my explaining a bit about Menstrual Monday (my posts are signed S.E. Michigan at Salon): "Oh Michigan... ...it's just a period. Like your hair falling out a bit more after washing it in cold water, or lips getting chapped in wintertime. It's a thing that happens. I don't think we need to celebrate it any more than one would celebrate the regular sloughing off of the skin on one's epidermis. (Of course, I make an exception for the nervous woman who has been living in fear of seeing a plus-sign on the little stick. For her celebrating the arrival of her period is, of course, understandable. And liquor should absolutely be served at such a celebration.) See...this is why I'm sometimes embarassed to be a woman. Could you imagine men having "Nightly Emission Hoe-downs"? or a CAKE devoted to such a phenomenon? What would it be? Angel Food with lemon icing instead of strawberry? I mean, I love commemorating every cause with a bit of pastry. But I have a small abscess in my face right now. In the interest of promoting good health and helping others learn how to NOT get an abscess in their own faces I'm hardly going to make Eat My Abscess custard-filled doughnuts. I might mention to my girlfriends "Hey, don't use that drying cream on a busted zit. It gave me an infection." But a party? Suggestive pastries? Perhaps I should hang mobiles of packing guaze, and boils around the apartment? A party devoted to the humdrum routine of my period strikes me as an opportunity to celebrate how little meaninful activity is going on in one's life. If I want to spread the word that a multivitamin is a good idea I think I can just mention it to my girlfriends, without hanging IUDs around my otherwise tastefully appointed apartment, or serving food indicative of a destroyed piece of furniture."

Dragon Bag, ready to ship for Menstrual Monday 2007

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...above, an updated logo from the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health. Compare with MOLT dragon logo, above.

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