International Women's Day

I love my Mslexia diary and I love the Saturday poem in the Guardian. For 2010 I had a brainwave - I decided to cut out each poem and stick it in my diary, thereby compiling a lovely anthology which grows week by week, and which I can dip into if ever I find myself somewhere without a book to read. 

Six weeks into the year, I realised that not one poem by a woman had featured yet!! The following week - another male poet. By this stage I was fuming, preparing my letter of complaint to the Guardian. Luckily for them, in week eight a woman appeared, so I calmed down. For the moment. 

I am keeping my eye on them. Here's the year's anthology so far:

1)  2 Jan - Traffic - Andrew Motion

2)  9 Jan - Pigeon - Lachlan MacKinnon

3)  16 Jan - funhouse - Charles Bukowski

4)  23 Jan - In a Syrian Harbour - John Ash

5)  30 Jan - Turns - Christopher Reid

6) 6 Feb - About Time - Robin Robertson

7) 13 Feb - Strawberries - Edwin Morgan

8)  20 Feb - On Lacking the Killer Instinct - Eilean Ni Chuilleanain

9)  27 Feb - Cholera - Kona MacPhee

10)  6 Mar - 42 - Derek Walcott 

Statement from the front of Mslexia magazine:

'Mslexia means women's writing (ms = woman, lexia = words). Its association with dyslexia is intentional. Dyslexia is a difficulty, more prevalent in men, with reading and spelling; mslexia is the complex set of conditions and expectations that prevents women, who as girls so outshine boys in verbal skills, from becoming successful authors. 

Mslexia aims to define, explore and help overcome the condition of mslexia and provide a platform and playground for women writers. We are dedicated to encouraging, nurturing and empowering women writers to produce, publish and have their work read, with the parallel aim of improving the reach and quality of women's literature.'

Click on the image above of the diary to visit Mslexia's website.