Creative | Posted by Freddy-May A. on 07/16/2010

Tomorrow

Tomorrow,
I will sit silently as I hear another rape joke,
letting it hit the wall I’ve put up,
blinking hard when my eyes start to prickle.

Tomorrow,
I will wait until I’m around people who agree with me
to vent my discontent
at the way we’re treated.

Tomorrow,
I will pretend not to notice the hilarious comment
about domestic abuse
from my classmate.

I’ll tell myself,
“tomorrow I’ll say something,”
“if he does it again I’ll call him on it,”
but I don’t.

I never do.

For all my words, all my critical thinking—
(what good does critical thinking do?)—
I rarely say anything
when it really matters.

Later I will cry to someone, my big sister,
my friend, my RA, and they’ll assure me
I’m not overreacting.

But that won’t change anything.
Because the next day, I’ll hear another “joke.”
And it will just be another slap
in the face.

How many until I can’t take…

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Creative | Posted by Emily B on 07/13/2010

Another Night

Before the sky empties of truth, she
tells him. He peels apart dollar bills like clammy thighs as
the faucet drips out a heartbeat
Or maybe it was tears.
She wishes she could turn up his love like
the air conditioning.
As the constellations of his breaths emerge
and her anger throbbing like the
underside of tongues, like the shifting of traffic lights
she screams
to just throw her fucking
love in the trash
and he tells her it can go in the recyclables.

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Creative | Posted by Jayna J on 06/30/2010

Brotherhood

Oh, how I wish to
be in a fraternity.
How grand it seems;
basking in the glow of
boyish camaraderie.
Alas! Tis’ the stuff of dreams-
Brotherhood,
never meant for a girl
like Me.

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Creative | Posted by Hannah C on 06/11/2010

Tradition

I was thinking about female genital mutilation and the prevalency it still has within a large number of African communities, and in other countries worldwide. After reading Alice Walker’s Possessing the Secret of Joy I began to watch interviews with women who had been under the knife, and this is my interpretation of one of the ways it takes place.

tradition

it’s tradition, they say

new clothes, new jewellery

this celebration is all for you

that elegant gait, they say

walk with a slip slide shuffle

legs together, like true women

Come inside, they say

every woman has to do it

do you want to get married or not

hold her down, they say

spread her legs

hand me the knife

cut it all out, they say

every lump, every bump

make sure you get it all

stitch her up, they say

she’s not dirty anymore

she can get a husband

congratulations,…

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Creative | Posted by Sarah Coggrave on 06/4/2010

Organs Grabbing

Organs grabbing

My greedy little body
It’s full of little hands
Feed me now they shout at me
You must meet our demands

Every tiny organ
Is pushing for its share
I was first no me pick me
Their fingers everywhere

Fighting in their thousands
A sea of biting teeth
There’s never going to be enough
For everyone to eat

But please oh please we’re starving
Cry voices full of woe
Without you we can’t function
And there’s nowhere else to go

Above them comes a cackle
A monster way up high
Is stopping me from feeding them
And willing them to die

You stupid lowly body
The demon screams with glee
Your disgusting worthless pleasures
Mean nothing now to me

Filthy maggots crawling
Decay a dying corpse
Consume the starving cavern
The human life, the source.

From somewhere comes a hero
A sudden burst of light
To cast away the devil
Remove him out of sight

And then the food is falling
Like…

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