Period fiction

I told him I was reading The Group-- classic chick lit, you might say.
He told me he loved that I read period fiction.
Yeah, menstruation comes up, but I don't know if I'd call it-- oh.

What if that were a genre?
It would be coming-of-age
With a subset of menopause novels

Featuring virtuosic descriptions of cramps
Incapacitating the heroine at dramatic moments
Being overcome by sheer force of will, and drugs

Lyrical accounts of stains left on
Sheets, nightshirts, jeans, skirts,
Underwear of course, furniture

YA versions: Sisterhood of the Diva Cup
Farces and romps, but no mere "traumaramas"
Citations of the classics-- Betty Smith, Judy Blume