“Being A Woman” by Michele Lee Sefton

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I knew I would have extra time on my hands during recovery and I decided to buy three books/booklets from fellow bloggers?

Poor Michele Lee, she has no idea that I bought her book, and neither does she know I am writing this.

In my opinion, the poetry collection “Being a Woman” has one big flaw. It’s too short. I needed and wanted to read more reflections about the old men vs women status quo.

Am I even allowed to use snippets of her poems without asking? Perhaps I don’t ask, but do what I do best -ask for forgiveness afterward? I am not sure how this copyright thing works and I don’t have the time -or energy- to read up on this. So forgiveness it is!

Michele Lee’s poems are right up my alley. I know I am older than her, but perhaps not by too much. We seem to have questioned the same rules when we were young women. When we learn what we are not supposed to do because only men or boys can do it. Don’t we all (women) have been there?

Her first poem “Girl” hit a homerun with me. Every paragraph, every verse – short but significant – delivers.

You are a girl,
he would say to me,
when I asked him
to show me how
to drive a boat or change a tire.
You know, those things that
only boys should ever do…

…more in the book.

One of the closing lines

…that everybody should be independent
and self-sufficient, not just a man.

…

The poetry collection is for women, and for young open-minded men, who find themselves in the position to raise a girl, or live with a sibling without the old doctrines we had to live by for too many centuries.

Michele Lee is nicer than I ever could be. She is kind, but spot on. I love her take on makeup, something I could never wear for too long myself. The feeling that my skin stopped breathing and that I, the real me, suffocated underneath a layer of chemical perfection, made me wash it off, the couple of times I tried.

I am tired of applying makeup
…………..
because I am starting to like the me underneath.

Can I sign this, please?

Michele’s take on aprons, and stiletto heels, are all brilliant examples of her mind at work. A master with words, but not too many, just the right amount to get the message across -with grace.

It’s a rare 5-star rating from me that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that we follow each other’s blogs. My rating is solely based on talent -as it should be. I am rating the work, not my friendship with a blogger.

I almost forgot to mention the illustrations, done by her daughter Sammi Lee, who is a very talented modern artist. A few lines. An artist’s touch to underline, without being overpowering.

If you like poetry, and poems then you should get this small but exquisite collection of poems.

It’s for all of us who have curves, whether big or small.

If you don’t know Michelle Lee (yet) you might rethink that. 🙂

Here is a link to her blog “My Inspired Life” – a sensitive and spirited tumbleweed.

The first book of three fellow bloggers set the bar -perhaps too high?

“Being a woman: Overcoming” I bought it at Amazon