Pharaonic Ritual
Susie Swanton
In the desert
they say
a Marriageable woman
is sewn
together and
pulled
from the root.
To relieve
sexual
tension and promiscuity,
masturbation and female
secretions, the daya
must cleanse me of my male
parts: the minora, the hood.
the clitoris is male
and I am only female
without it.
When the women judge me tahir
my husband will open me
with a knife,
Tthe women will insert
thorns to close
me after
I give birth.
They say
my child will be clean
when he passes
through me.
They say I am not
a virgin
until stitched;
In Egypt I am not a woman
until circumcised.