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The Real Story of Menstruation

The red rose cries, she is near, she is near; and the white rose weeps, she is late…
     — Alfred Lord Tennyson

A hard cover arrived in the mail today.

The “o” in the word Period on the dust jacket is shaped like a large red droplet.

I consider not putting it on the coffee table.

full disclosure
a chameleon
belly up

Note: The epigraph is from Maud (Part 1) by Alfred Lord Tennyson.


About the Author

Lorraine Padden

Lorraine A Padden is a Touchstone Award–winning poet whose honors also include prizes from Tricycle Magazine, the Haiku Society of America, the Tokutomi International Haiku Competition, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. Upwelling, her first collection of haiku and related short forms, was published by Red Moon Press in 2022. Find more at lorrainepadden.com.


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