EPISODE 13: SHRINKING WOMEN AND THE DIVINE FEMININE, WITH LILY MYERS

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Lily Myers is a writer and poet whose poem, “Shrinking Women” won Best Love Poem at the 2013 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. Her performance of Shrinking Women went viral on youtube gaining over 5 million views. A few months ago I came across this video and was floored. First I cried because there was so much powerful truth in the poem, and her performance of it was breathtaking. Soon my tears gave way to curiosity, empowerment, and inspiration. Lily’s poem made me think about the ways in which I was raised and socialized as a girl and (now) woman and how my fulfillment of the “woman” role affects the amount of space I take up in my relationships and in the world in general. Lily combines her love of writing with her passions for feminism, self-love, and body confidence and she gives talks and readings at high schools, colleges, and organizations around the country. I could have talked to Lily forever, but even in the span of 30 minutes I learned so much about what it means to be woman in our society and about female empowerment.

Today we talked about:

  • How she got into writing poetry.
  • Where she got the idea for her poem Shrinking Women
  • The experience of Shrinking Women going viral and the effect it had on her family, particularly her relationship with her mother
  • What it was like to write her first book, This Impossible Light
  • Why she feels drawn to Tarot, and how Tarot is connected to feminist spirituality
  • How she is working on empowering herself as a woman in her day-to-day life
  • Her next book, a young adult novel

This enlightening conversation will make you think about the ways in which you fulfill the prescribed “woman” role in your everyday interactions, and the ways in which you can empower yourself to step outside that role. I hope you enjoy listening!

xo

Links:

Lily's Performance of her poem "Shrinking Women": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQucWXWXp3k

Lily's website: https://www.lilymyerswrites.com/

Lily's blog on the Divine Feminine: https://www.tigerlilith.com/