a type [face]
A girl spends her days typing for a living
A girl spends her nights doodling dreams
A girl engineers armies of bold schemes
A girl highlights irony in italicized reams
A girl buttons solid f(r)onts
A girl undoes (parenthetical) reruns
A girl understands that fonts frame meaning
A girl stands tall in threads of well-read seams
The girl wears vintage dress as she pleases
The girl dresses official text as she sees most fitting
The girl refuses to comply with outdated requests
The girl sneezes haiku as a form of resistance
A girl dresses politics in 13-point print
A girl refuses to accept irrational clicks
A girl addresses requests with effervescent ink
A girl sketches game plans with a straight back routine
She picks tulips
She plucks lucky charms
She composes like Mozart
She engineers DNA sequences
She signs in silence
She messages in cursive
She studies male engineering
She engineers linguistic longing
She remains loyal to Calibri
She sings Let it Be on breaks
She stands up Roman rulers
She trims satin bows and satire rings
She assigns tired tunes tales of whimsy--
Cheshire Cats, embroidered plots,
reading rights, and honest apple trees.
She refuses defeat--
with a poker face and timely,
full trim tidings, she skirts proclamations
and declares resistance to traditional clothing.
Her composition book, a battlefield
of internal highlights, trusted deeds,
and sketches, so bold.
Her [type], a face of choice,
a calibrated workhorse of (s)words
The girl remains sans serif & free,
free to dance [of bold, italicized
dramatics], of corners,
and stems subtly rounded,
& no shoes on
her feet
a woman (at/of work)
I. Subject
a woman, at work
a work of art
a woman of (many) parts
of moving targets
as much a hunter as prey
of sweet and sour specifics–
medals, (p)lights, alimony,
geometry at play
of superlative craftsmanship
of exclamations and curved-backs
of hourglass and far-right angles
an adverb– (very, very, very
___ fill in the blank)
currency, for authors of print
and screen to curate
discovered. found.
manufactured then packaged
to be more, more adored,
more adorned
II. Verb
a how-to recipe for how to be
a woman of means,
movies, and made-for-tv
viewing
a proposition. a preposition
a revelation. a vindication
a work of (non)fiction,
of unalphabetized
lingerie
of extended limbs
of limelight and limber relations
born of marriage, constant press,
and of a god that created woman
a woman of frames
and a press with unlimited audience,
but one who scoffed at the declaration
of equality for all of the human race.
a race to (or from?) fame
a performance against/of measurements,
magazines, and big screens
irony, so elementary--the sentence
both a declaration and an action verb,
at once, an object
III. Object
a body
a body of work
a body at work
a body of and at work on a ride
a body of and at work on a ride of a lifetime
Oh, what a wonderful world
stunning,
adorned of stunning convictions
of unsavory taste
a teen bride; a bridge for no one
a convict; convicted of/by/in the name
of her own imagination, a contradiction
of form
Brigitte– not to be missed,
of missed opportunity, to be missed,
for eternity
IV. The Sentence’s Rules of Construction
the woman—constructed,
of/at/for/in work,
a work, still
in progress
Recess
we’d collect and trade Betty Boop
stickers at recess. A space of public
domain dominance. We’d also run
from dicks, field balls, and solve
Nancy Drew mysteries, all while dressed
in traditional pink squares. We fit
the molds—it was as elementary
as that. Tag, you’re it.
Don’t swear. Wear what fits.
We’d wear Betty Boop T-shirts
beneath solid uniforms and field
daily dares like crickets in mortality’s
cross hairs—
the suburban lawn mower;
the four-bed, two-bath family
home. puffy eyes,
dotted i’s, dizzy (dirty)
dishes, ditsy wishes,
tops on
pots. concealer on spots,
private (d)reams.
a mantra
for zero-sum playboys,
classroom
dynamics, and home
economics:
father collected volumes--
Playboys beneath mattress; Nancy Drew
and the Hardy Boys atop liquor cabinets,
mother collected dreams--
issues of Woman’s Day and Family Circle,
narrow hips, wrinkle-free days
girls collected game plans locked
behind tiny silver keys, Vogue reprints,
Betty’s wears (training bras, padded
socks).
our proportions were often wrong;
our preoccupation with horse play, manure,
and roller derby off-putting to most,
we learned to keep hobbies private;
like so many other Betty’s,
Nancy’s, and designated Blondie’s
of ABCs and lesson plans grounded
in how to please (pleas?) and home-baked
bread dynamics
now, after a near-century of change,
I wonder what Betty, Nancy, Blondie,
and my recess-mates would say,
if they knew (they do),
that still, anyone,
anywhere can unlock their diaries
and change their hair, not only during a recess
dare and all without even saying please
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