A Mumsnet thread about a book about a Mumsnet thread “Under the Duvet of Darkness” written by the women of Mumsnet THREAD 2

[Boiledbeetle]

Thread 1:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4776556-a-mumsnet-thread-about-a-book-about-a-mumsnet-thread-under-the-duvet-of-darkness-written-by-the-women-of-mumsnet?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

You do not need to have read thread 1 – this is not that sort of thread.

But to recap… Over Christmas and New Year after the passing of the GRR (Scotland) Bill a thread was started with a poem about Nicola Sturgeon. Eventually on that thread (and a couple of other threads) over 80 poems were written.

“Under the Duvet of Darkness: Poems written by angry women for angry women because WOMEN WON’T WHEESHT” was published as a paperback on 31st March 2023.

Available on Amazon only: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C129WKDD

In a rather bizarre turn of events at one point it reached No 2 in poetry best sellers and No 5 in Feminist Criticism best sellers. No one will be surprised to discover that a book that is in the main about people, especially men, claiming to be something they are not was kept off the No1 spot in poetry best sellers by a crime novel, identifying as poetry, written by a man ;-)

E-BOOK:

Some people wanted an e-book rather than a paperback, but for that we needed someone who could actually make an e-book and some extra poems.

FairyKindleMother came to the rescue with regards the e-book and posters wrote enough poems that we could add 20 more poems into the e-book.

I pressed publish on the e-book a few hours ago. It can take usually up to 3 days to appear and populate all the info etc on the various sites, and there is always the chance they knock it back for some reason. But I've done all I can do at this point. We just have to wait and see who spots it on sale first! It will appear on the Amazon link above hopefully soon, (or I'll get an email asking me to change something).

MONEY FROM SALES OF ALL FORMATS:

In honour of Magdalen Berns, who co-founded the Scottish campaign group For Women Scotland, 100% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to For Women Scotland.

“It’s not hate to defend your rights, and it’s not hate to speak the truth.”
Magdalen Berns (1983 – 2019)

As I started work on the e-book posters continued to write poems. So we had a choice: leave them there, languishing on the thread, unloved, forgotten, never to have their words uttered again OR we could just do volume 2.

Posters voted for Volume 2 but we still need more poems!

And that’s the gist of thread 1.

😁

Hang on she devotes a whole HALF HOUR? what is wrong with the woman? it should be fifteen minutes max every two years!

So, you've bought it! But has it turned up on your kindle?

( i don't know why i'm asking that, i've got your money now, what do I care!)

It has been turned on since I wrote my last post, but it's not there. I looked through the library and searched for the title. I tried turning aeroplane mode on and off, then Sync.

Nada.

Ha hah! It's literally just popped up now!

Will a pic load?

...

A kindle book pic!

After all I honestly hope you like it!

So do I!

And if you don't then do what us women are good at...

Fake it!

😀

Is that your faking it face? or....

No comment.

We have had two sales today an e-book and a paperback!

Now we had slipped down to No 4 earlier in the day but those two sales puts us back at No 2 (shakes head).

We are currently being pipped to the post by a book of poems about understanding suicide with the Art of War bringing up the rear. If we are not careful we will be overtaken by the book currently at No 5 The Fetish Camp - I checked it out so you don't have to. There's lots of leather.

The Met:

The Met is policing by consent,
but we all know they are bent.
Violence against women is the rule,
and hate crime reporting is a tool,
to silence women who speak out,
the Met fly flag for men, no doubt.

@Boiledbeetle

XY or XX?
Blackman can't tell which one is her sex,
A person who has birthed two humans,
Is so indisputably a woman,
The UofA must be shaking their heads,
Rejoicing she went into politics instead.
A nation previously known for its' intellectual ken,
'You'll have had your Enlightenment then?'

Boiledbeetle · Yesterday 22:12

We have had two sales today an e-book

Guilty!

Oh hello, two poems. I was expecting Ritas to be here, but Wait has added a historical context poem as well.🤗

Oh joy of joys.

No sales today so far. we were sitting at No5 but have been overtaken by Philip Larkin. so at this point we are sat at No.6.

I need food now.

Larkin was a horrible person, but a great poet. Aubade is my favourite, but Church Going, An Arundel Tomb, and Ambulances are all great.

I honestly don't think I have knowingly read anything by Philip Larkin. I think he's managed to pass me by. (And I'll be buggered if I'm buying someone elses poetry on Amazon at the moment!).

Larkin's most famous lines are probably from This Be The Verse:
They fuck you up, your mum and dad
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

Anyway, here's Aubade:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48422/aubade-56d229a6e2f07

I like 'Afternoons':

https://www.thepoetryhour.com/poems/afternoons

I actually meant to add a footnote that the line 'You'll have had your Enlightenment then?' is sadly not mine but a very clever parody of the 'You'll have had your tea then?' Scottish culture satire by a Twitter user whose handle I cannot remember. It's just so absolutely spot on.

Another good one. The old misanthrope was pretty prescient with Going going, too:

Things are tougher than we are, just
As earth will always respond
However we mess it about;
Chuck filth in the sea, if you must:
The tides will be clean beyond.

• But what do I feel now? Doubt?

https://www.thepoetryhour.com/poems/going-going

This took a while

THE FOUR MAGIC WORDS

“I am a woman!”
He pronounces to all.
And in that moment
the predator becomes prey.

The oppressor the oppressed.
Means that the man
holds all the aces.
Women only: now entered.

The women fall silent.
The man just gloats
at the glorious intrusion
into female only places.

Rape group? Free entry.
Toilets? Come on in.
Prisons? Take your pick!
Changing room? There too.

These ‘women’ are men.
“Known since aged four.”
Says the autogynephilic man.
That is not true.

Do not dare retort,
or even make waves.
If you say NO!
Then: hate crime report.

“I will bloody huff,
and, puff! Your life?
Blown up into chaos!”
Wolf in grannie’s dress!

The men now rule.
Though, was ever so.
But this is now.
Two thousand twenty three.

This is not right.
We women must fight
to keep men out
of all our spaces.

Men cannot just demand
things so not true.
We do not consent.
We will not relent

on these four words.
For they are ours,
and our words alone.
They belong to us,

not to a man.
Man has no right
to utter those words.
Only we can say

“I AM A WOMAN”

And now i've got that out of my head I am going to go and click on the larkin poem links.

Wait, ah, "you'll have had your tea then?" a refrain I know well from my youth.

Aubade is great, thank you!