a part & apart

The writer in the woman wants to write about something but the woman in the woman does not. In many ways, the woman has avoided this something all her life despite the fact that it has always been a part of her life. And because the woman in the woman does not want to write about this something, the writer in the woman knows she must, because that’s what writers do, right? The writer in the woman teaches writer’s workshops where she asks everyone to write about what they do not want to write about. And yet, here she is, not writing about this something that she knows she should.

The woman in the woman does not want to write about this something because it is something her mother thought about all her life, and that she thought about all her life, and that her daughters probably think about, because, she thinks, all women do. She does not like that all women think about this something. Because this means that the world thinks about it, and this makes her want to steer clear of wanting what the world wants, because she wants to be different. She must be different than the world. But she knows she is not. And how could she be? She is part of the world.

So, the writer in the woman decides to write around the something and the woman in the woman is satisfied with this compromise. She is still a part of the world, and she is still apart from the world.