Poems About Womanhood
This International Women's Day, we're celebrating womanhood — from a cisgender and non-binary perspective.
At Red Room Poetry, we are committed to platforming poets from all backgrounds, amplifying voices that have historically been silenced or overlooked. Through our projects, commissions, and publications, we strive to create space for artists to share their stories, challenge societal norms, and celebrate the power of language. By championing poets from diverse communities, we honour the richness of their experiences and the vital role poetry plays in shaping conversations about equality, empowerment, and change.
In celebration of International Women's Day, we gathered poems from the women and non-binary writers who shape, challenge and redefine the world through poetry. Across generations, cultures, and lived experiences, these poets speak to resilience, identity, justice, and the deep complexities associated with womanhood. From reflections on heritage and displacement to declarations of strength and survival, each poem offers a powerful lens into the multifaceted realities of the poets. The following collection showcases ten remarkable poems, illuminating the struggles, triumphs, and unbreakable spirit of how womanhood is performed and encountered, from a cisgender and non-binary perspective.
Errata: A previous version of this article included the poet Madison Godfrey under the category of 'women', though Madison publicly identifies as a non-binary person. We sincerely apologise for any unintentional harm this language and framing may have caused to Madison or any member of the trans community. Following conversations with Madison, we have updated the article to reinforce the distinction that non-binary is not an identity adjacent to or included within womanhood, while also recognising that trans and non-binary poets may write about experiences with womanhood as a subject. Red Room is committed to fostering a space for our community where all voices are represented and respected. We recognise the importance of getting this right and have taken steps to ensure that our processes moving forward will prevent this from happening again.
Read the poems
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Without Her
By Felicity PlunkettWhen a body is found on a bike-path –
When a body is found in a garbage tip –
Where a body lies under a bridge, over a border
in the basement of a suburban home, washed up -
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Blak-out
By Brenda SaundersSista' girl need money to get home Native title
case Big time! she raps edgy
Some story -
I Grew Up A Shadow Girl, With A Man Outlined Inside Me
By Madison Godfrey(Content warning: references self-harm)
When I was fifteen in a toilet cubicle next to Talia,
I exclaimed IT’S HERE with my school skirt skimming -
O Australia
By Jeanine LeaneO Australia I want to follow the transit of Venus/ sail around the corner of the world/ discover your terra incognito/ catch the first fleet/ get a ticket of leave/ take up land/ cross your great divide/ unlock your pastures/ dive into your jewelled sea/ Australia I want to chart an inland river that leads to your opal heart/ be a part of your Aus… -
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First Blood: A Sestina
By Natalie Damjanovich-NapoleonThere was a time when the girl
never thought about the colour blue, or blood,
could be amused by the flicking of a lit match,
the delicate shiver of a spider orchid; -
Transplantations
By Audrey MolloyCamellia japonica
Like a shrub,
you can kill a woman -
Borders Fade
By Setayesh Golshani, Saba VasefiTranslated by Saba Vasefi
In shadows of wire,
behind bars, I was bred, -
Spirit Remains
By Lorna MunroI am as old as time
I am fluid like spoken rhyme
I am still here, even if you refuse to listen to my lesson
I am wise beyond my years, though I wear the clothes of an adolescent