Alison Bechdel

I won't watch a movie you said
In which there is not a scene
Where two women talk about
Something other than a man

And became famous
As you still live

True, that.

Are men the only thing
Women talk about?

Two men may talk about anything
Women, of course,
But then also we see
Their relationships with
Father
Mother
Country
Religion
Sports
Health
Nostalgia
Confidence, or lack thereof
Depression
Masturbation
(Haha when was there ever
A movie where two women
Discuss their masturbation?)

Women have relationships with
All these things too
And so much more

Where, for example,
Are the times when
Me and my sister
Pretended to bleed
A week early
So that we could
Attend dashain and tihar?
Covered up for each other
When we were bleeding
Together
And pretended to bleed
One after another
So that we would have each other
To bring each other food and water
From the forbidden kitchen?
When we complained to our mother
About our mother
For not letting go
Of these ramshackle traditions
And yet kept up the charade
For we want to give her the dignity
Of her traditions
In her own home

I don't care if you stop doing it
When i am no longer around, she said
But as long as i am here, she said
And this is my home, she said

Where in movies
Or in books
Do we wee
This exasperation we had
With her stubbornness
This complicated relationship
Where a mother wishes the best
For her daughter
But won't tell her to go for it
Where a mother is torn between
What she grew up with
And what her heart tells her
How she feels guilty
For betryaing both
Her mothers
And her daughters

Where daughters are exasperated
But they love her more
Than they are exasperated

And so they keep up the charade