Very true Ally,

I can trace the finding of my own 'voice', poetry-wise, to a
piece I wrote called 'The Sleeping Beauty', a dramatic monologue
in which the 'I' was the woman in the tale.  I should hastily add
that the poem was dwarfless.

Other poems followed in a similar vein, i.e. Eurydice, in which
again I took on the role of the female lead.  Only this imaginative
act of gender-crossing allowed me to speak as 'myself', at that
particular time.  Something of a revelation.

I understand this is different from Helen's view of female voice
originating from experience.  I would say that role-playing, though,
is vital to the dramatic act of writing in any form.  Even from
within the smaller circle of our direct experiences, don't we
dramatise the 'I' in a similar fashion?  Are we ever 'only' ourselves
on the page, male or female?

I would say the voices we use are multiple . . or potentially so.
I'm suddenly reminded of those song-poems from the early
Irish --

I am the wind which breathes upon the sea,
I am the wave of the ocean,
I am the murmur of the billows,
I am the bull of seven battles . . . .


If this was written by a woman I wouldn't be at all surprised . . in
fact it looks more likely somehow, having read it again . . . .

Although I can see the historical necessity for poetries focusing
on the experiences of women (as Mairead pointed out re: Plath
and childbirth), is there still a need for this experiential fence?
Is gender-specific identity still an issue?

Still hoping to learn more --


Andy




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