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poetry5
the girl

it�s been years since
i was obsessed with my own darkness
acting the part of the girl in the black-and-white
picture, in love with her sandpaper poems

i�ve slipped into her
skin again, sitting
chewing my fingers
while you
beg me to cry

my grotesque hands, always clutching
at justice, a baby yanking
at cabinet doors � plastic
locks ensure an allure time eludes

second wave, third wave � named
for ancient oceans
that come and come
to take only inches from the shore

leaving me the girl on the bus writing
poetry, reading
feminist theory

Cixous is no use, words
so true seem too easily laid
when now is a lesson in reality i had coming

like alcoholism, breast cancer,
babies, the violence of words
is known, comes wrapped
in pink plastic with white tabs when
we turn thirteen, shame is
learned in secrecy and learning
is by osmosis once
you dare not raise
your hand

ignore them the lie written
on every wall, a promise of power
impossible to fulfill
we make men pandora�s boxes
opened at eleven, their ownership
flying into our faces from open plastic hinges
Poetry
1� 2� 3� 4� 5� 6�
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God Bless America

God Bless America! Free Sundae with Chicken Choices,
Holiday Dinner Show Tickets On Sale Now,
The manufacturer of this cheese-encrusted pizza box will donate
a portion of the proceeds to the September 11 Fund.
(Immigrants, the homeless and gays need not apply.)

God Bless America! where the IRS will donate
a portion of your taxes
to airline CEOs and the Guns For Third World Dictators Fund.

God Bless America! let�s hang the Ten Commandments
in every classroom and pretend the Virgin Mary
invented Christmas shopping while she was pushing out the Savior
in a stable without a pillow or an epidural.

God Bless smart bombs for taking out the Red Cross!
God Bless free speech until Ari Fleischer takes it away!

God Bless the oil reserves in the Caspian Sea,
we�ll invent any enemy necessary to keep
two cars swooping in and out
of every suburban driveway, keep
Dick and Jane� in good white schools.

God Bless the women who even now
cannot turn their faces to the light,
who uncloaked sit in cellars as bombs
fall to liberate them, food falls
to feed them and destroys the roof of their home,
the four walls of their purdah.

God Bless America.
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