Woman body knows Spanx, push-up
bras, and high-heeled shoes are designed to keep us small.
Knows women used to
faint on couches from corsets strangling breath.
Woman body knows we
have always survived on less: less oxygen, less stability, less money, less
space, less rights, less
of our own bodies.
Woman body knows wage
gap, knows "how old are you anyway?"
knows "but you
aren't the real doctor, right?" knows "all you women are just the
same"
knows research ideas
stolen and executed, knows
man got the praise,
knows woman body said it first.
Woman body knows "you
tell my wife I'm the man and she will do what I say with my children."
Woman body knows female
bodies bruised.
Woman body makes friends
with security guard. Feels finger on panic
button in her sleep some days.
Woman body will never be the loudest voice. Resorts to being most insistent; woman body
learns to say no and forgets to cover her ass first.
Woman body finds
boundaries, learns she's being "unreasonable,"
might have to say yes
anyway.
Woman body walks down
the street.
Woman body wears jeans,
wears skirt, wears sweatpants, wears yoga pants, wears...
Woman body hears
"hey Baby, where you goin'?"
hears, "you wanna
come in and fuck?"
hears, "smile Sweetie. Aren't you gonna smile for me?"
hears, "why you
not answering me?"
hears,
"bitch"
hears, "cunt,"
hears...
Woman body keeps
walking.
Woman body knows wings
clipped and pinned to brick like
butterfly to shadow
box. Knows purple crocus blossoming
where fingers lay;
woman body cannot write
angry metaphors.
Woman body makes them
beautiful,
woman body knows
they're not,
woman body tries
anyway.
Woman body doesn't know
what to eat anymore. Woman body starving not for food.
Woman body does not
know which women to look to; woman body lost.
Woman body wants a mother;
woman body, own mother.
Woman body knows
shame. Knows small. Knows to take up less
space to make you more
comfortable.
Woman body wonders what
space feels like without
too much.
Woman body stands
outside at night,
chest to heaven, breathing
in expanse of sky.
Woman body does not
imagine herself astronaut.
Does not become planet,
moon, or cloud.
Woman body is star.
Woman body is small on
the ground but science knows
she is ball of power
and light.
When you know her she has
already died but
continued existing for light
years, she
expanded out beyond her
unsmall body, this
woman body knows how to
survive anyway.
Woman body knows to survive
anyway.
Woman body survive
anyway.
Woman body survive
anyway.
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