I had a psychological menopause before the physical one. By my early fifties, I’d had enough of the whole business of menstruation and was ready to move on. Unfortunately, my ovaries were still hard at it. But as soon as my periods started getting the tiniest bit irregular, I decided that was it. As far as I was concerned, it was all over. Unfortunately, in fact, it was all over, bar the bleeding. Each time I had a period, I was taken by surprise. Each time, I’d think,

What? This, again? Really?

So that was the inspirational force behind my poem, Enough Already. It’s a villanelle, and I hope that the repeating, re-cycling form reflects something of its subject matter.  I was delighted when I saw Arachne’s call-out for submissions to an anthology on the menopause. I was ready for it, and by then, I’m happy to report, I was through the menopause as well!

Join us online TODAY Friday 6th October at 1pm for our first sneek preview of the book, in advance of publication. Free tickets via eventbrite

Claire Lynn teaches Creative Writing around Northumberland.  Her poems have been placed in the Bridport Prize (1999), the Wasafiri New Writing Prize (2017) and Marsden the Poetry Village Competition (2019) and have been published in Virago anthology “The Nerve”, the Ver Prize anthology (2017), the Wolverhampton Literature Festival Anthology 2020, Beyond the Storm: Poems from the Covid-19 era, The New European and Independent newspapers, and various magazines including Butcher’s Dog, Smiths Knoll, Writing Women, Other Poetry and Dream Catcher.  Her poem Sixteen Summers was commissioned by the Ilkley Literature Festival 2022.