The Year of the Lost Man

Is it just me or did 2009 seem like the year of men, interminably lost and confused? I mean, look at the movies: The Wrestler, Gran Torino, Up in the Air, Crazyheart, A Single Man - cowboys, washed up vets, gay men, business men, Mickey Rourke? It seems so many movies are focusing on the struggle of the male in everyday life with prejudice, alcoholism, women and sex, self-acceptance, peer-acceptance . Is it a statement of the times? That this world we have today is a hard world for men to live in? It is easy to believe. And I am nothing near a feminist. But what about the woman? This concerns me because of the most recent criticism of my writing. I was told that I write like a man, that the speakers of my poems are most often genderless. That I am uncelebratory of the woman, of being a woman. Because I don't write the expected "woman" or "mother" poems? I see my struggles and concerns in life and in writing as human struggle and concerns, not merely related to women or gender stereotypes, but to all beings. And, however important or unimportant audience is, hopefully my audience will always contain both men and woman. So I will continue to write poems that speak to both genders. And however much I did enjoy Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges, I look forward to movies that more deeply explore the situation of the woman, beyond (and hopefully less repugnant than) Sex and the City and He's just not that into you. WhhhaaZAMM