Be Kind

by Evan Jewett
Maida

it's always a careless new skirt
and I'm always second best to your visits with sand
a dime for each burden and i'd buy you the answers
fall asleep with your bad habit
breathe it in and hold it
you will never be cold again
i've kept my eyes down
and I've kept my heart shut
but I never forgot
to forget
eject and escape
rewind and erase
eject and escape
rewind and erase

I am choking on your dust

Feminism

All over the world, Little Bees, Star Scouts,
and Blue Birds play telephone, whispering messages
in a chain link of ears—no repeating (that’s cheating),
only relaying what they hear their first shot.
Sometimes “Molly loves Billy” becomes “ A Holiday in Fiji,”
or “Do the Right Thing” becomes “The Man Who Would Be King.” Still, there is trust. Girls taking the Blind Walk,
a bandana around one’s eyes (Pin the Tail on the Donkey-Style) as another leads her through the woods
or a backyard or entire city blocks. Girls helping
where they are needed or inventing ways to aid
where they are seemingly not.

KINKY

They decide to exchange heads.
Barbie squeezes the small opening under her chin
over Ken’s bulging neck socket. His wide jaw line jostles
atop his girlfriend’s body, loosely,
like one of those nodding novelty dogs
destined to gaze from the back windows of cars.
The two dolls chase each other around the orange Country Camper unsure what they’ll do when they’re within touching distance.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.