NaPoWriMo Day 6

Author Kate Long writes periodic Twitter threads on the gendered clothing sold for young children, and the different messages that boys and girls are exposed to growing up. People get surprisingly riled about Kate documenting what she finds, and many are keen to claim that it makes no difference to society whatsoever that girls are consistently offered shorter shorts, flimsier shoes, fewer pockets, and tops which exhort them variously to ‘Be Kind/Be Happy/Smile/Shine’ etc. Boys, on the other hand, are told to be Strong/Brave/Adventurous/Scientific - virtually from birth. I read her most recent post yesterday, which she illustrated with photographs from Marks and Spencer’s current range.

Photograph by Kate Long

Later on, I saw a post announcing the winners of a competition, which had been to write a poem about ‘Kindness’, to go into a themed anthology. These books are always wonderful, and have covered many topics previously – from wine to running, birds to Black history - so I have no bone to pick with this at all. Kindness is unarguably a thing we could all use more of - from both sexes. I had entered the competition myself. I guess both this fact and having read Kate’s thread meant I was primed to notice, but I thought it was interesting that of the winning poets, only one was male.

This morning, I jotted down this short poem soon after waking up.

Kindness Poetry Competition

Of the twelve winners,

eleven are female.

Her absence is a lost tooth,

a gap in a perfect smile.

Perhaps she’s not even a poet,

sitting there in her NASA sweatshirt,

stirring tea.