The world’s first official menstrual-themed poetry slam (that we know of, at least) — dubbed “Red Howl Moon,” naturally — will attempt to normalize that time of the month via verse. Sweet.
DNA Info reports that the slam will take place at NYC’s Marymount Manhattan College on June 7 at 8 p.m. as part of the biennial Society for Menstrual Cycle Research Conference. It will honor Gloria Steinem “for her work in taking down social taboos toward menstruation” and Sylvia Plath, who once wrote, “‘If I didn’t have sex organs, I wouldn’t waver on the brink of nervous emotion and tears all the time.'” This is the first time the conference has ever included slam poetry.
Conference founder/Marymount professor David Linton became interested in periods after England’s Prince Charles said he wanted to be Camilla’s “tampon” and will be presenting a poem about “a man who’s charged with the responsibility of shopping for a menstrual product.” The horror!