Efforts to Define Sanitary Napkins as Food
by Sandra Sylvia Nelson
Scotland is fighting period
poverty by providing free sanitary
products in schools and libraries.
Check out a box of Tampons.
No need to return them.
The US food stamp program rejected
efforts to include sanitary napkins
as well as other paper products
for food stamp recipients.
Years ago women used cloth pads
when menstruating. Today, “On
the rag” is literally on the rag.
Brochures are provided illustrating
how to rinse, dry, and reuse rags.
Forbidden products include toilet
paper. Leaves, junk mail, hay and sand
can be used. Since food stamps cover
food some women use bread. Long
ago, businesses installed locking toilet
paper dispensers to keep the riffraff
from stealing. You can’t find that
dangling temptation anywhere. Even
churches lock it up. You’d think
they’d have more mercy. There are
politicians who enjoy rescinding
abortion rights—anything to keep us bloody
and begging.
ABOUT THE CREATOR
Sandra Sylvia Nelson has had work in many magazines including: The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Beloit Poetry Journal, Poetry Northwest, The Mid-American Review, Hawaii Review, Rattle, Tar River, Palette Poetry, The North American Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Electric Literature, The Iowa Review, and Ms. Magazine. She’s in Hard Choices, an anthology by The Iowa Review, and in the textbook Exploring Literature by Longman Press.