Funeral for a Womb

When all you know is pain
you don't know that that is not normal.
It is not a woman's lot to suffer,
even if we've been raised that way.

Endometriosis is a disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus, causing pain and/or infertility. It affects roughly 10% (190 million) of reproductive age people with a uterus globally. It is a chronic disease associated with severe, life-impacting pain during periods, sexual intercourse, bowel movements and/or urination, chronic pelvic pain, abdominal bloating, nausea, fatigue, and sometimes depression, anxiety, and infertility.

With endometriosis poems by Anna M. Thomas, Bea Colley, Beant K Dhillon, Celeste Raine, Christina Marie Brown, Claire Marsden, Elaine Webster, Emily Rose Galvin, Emma Boittiaux, Eve Croskery, Frostie Whinery, Gilberte Farah, Holly Dowell, Ines Canas Marques, Jo Bahdo, Kara Dunford, Kate MacAlister, Katherine E Winnick, Kimberly Phinney, Laura Jean Henebry, Laura Warner, Louise Mather, Maggie Bowyer, Michele Mekel, Nia Harries, Rebecca Rijsdijk, Rhianna Levi, Rushika Wick, Sarah Alò, Sarah Baude, Sofia Iacolare, Sophia Murray, Suyin Du Bois, Tara Tasse and Willem Krijger. Thank you for sharing your stories.

"These poets' experiences have stayed with me, and left me with the humble acknowledgment of my body's existence outside their pain. I'll keep returning to 'Funeral for a Womb' when I want to remember the strength of women and the power we possess in our hearts, the ones that beat for our incredible bodies." - Holly Ruskin, editor at Blood Moon Poetry Press