Yesterday, I listened to Holly Cairn TD’s IWD speech and wrote a little ditty in response.Below is the poem and a link to Holly’s instagram. Holly’s is definitely worth hearing.
A Male Point of View
Holly Cairns, TD for Cork, stood
among the vacant seats
in the centre of an deserted row
and spoke into the middle distance
about her appreciation of free toilet paper
in public loos.
That was nice, she thought, as she washed her hands
and wished the same was true of tampons
so that women could avoid bloody pants
the stigma, shame and spreading stains
that goes with stuffing wads of paper
in their crotch to absorb the period they can’t afford.
Holly then talked of the colossal rise
of calls to Women’s Aid in the pandemic.
I had heard the same in Longford, Dublin, and Limerick.
Good woman, I thought.
Following this, Holly went on to present
her practical list of inequality that women still face
to a floor full of green unoccupied chairs.
Apparently she was there alone, but, at the end
of her excellent speech, a fat jowly man,
a male speaker
said he hoped his successor
would be a woman
but until then he would keep safe this powerful position.
Kate Ennals 