Restoring Women to Cultural Memory

Now I Become Myself

Now I become myself. It's taken
Time, many years and places,
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people's faces,
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
"hurry, you will be dead before -----"
(What? Before you reach the morning?
or the end of the poem, is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)
Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!.....
Now there is time and Time is young.
O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move
I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the Sun!

~ May Sarton ~

(Collected Poems 1930-1993)

May Sarton's poem can be interpreted in several ways, but one essential and life-changing interpretation is to recognize her commentary on women's cultural identity. To finally feel our own "weight and density" is something toward which we all, as human beings,  long I suspect. The wearing of faces other than our own to achieve that weight is disingenuous, repressive, anxiety-producing and destructive of any true consciousness of the Self as part of the narrative of human culture, history and achievement. Women must explore and take back their own cultural memory, their own central historical identity and carry within themselves a recognition of their place and impact on the world. I offer this remarkable video entitled "Restoring Women to Cultural Memory" to that end.
Restoring Women to Cultural Memory