The Internet of Women

Jo asked 'How can I help?' so this poem is dedicated to her, and to all the women from Ninemonths, the parenting forums I joined in 2002 when I got pregnant with Fred and especially the mums in the private group we created to share photographs called Our Baby Photos, which became our safe place on the Internet for a really long time.

The Internet of Women

Well, the years went fast, but the time between

three and four in the afternoon lasts forever

dust suspended in a shaft of light.

Every day is a miracle, and you’ve never been so bored,

you are literally never alone, and you’ve never been so lonely,

You sit down and type ‘how can anyone live like this?’

That’s how you find the internet of women.

The medium is the message, breastmilk, blood, cervical fluid,

we leak into each other’s lives.

First you make the character of yourself,

and then slowly you become that person,

until you’re ready to take her out into the world.

Once we met in a private forum called ‘Our Baby Photos’.

Now we’ve spread out across platforms,

and into ‘real life’. I’ve met women in every state of Australia,

my children have played with their children,

some of them are still friends. Of course the kids think 

they invented the internet.

The years went fast, but days go slow.

How can anyone live like this?

Every day is a miracle and you are literally never alone.