Napowrimo 12

Yesterday's prompt was interesting -- write an index poem. I looked at my bookshelf and pulled out Stealing the Language by Alicia Ostriker for some good old fashioned feminist theory.

Index Poem

Male

an image of divinity

always shining from above. 

I look up at him, taller, broader, bigger 

Mistaken for stronger, smarter.

Heroism

knight in shining armor, prince charming,

the one who saves me from myself, 

opens the jar of pickles,

Rationalism

What you are, 

everything I lack. 

I see myself as night, 

wild and howling at the moon, 

woman in the attic, 

hair like midnight in her face.

Father figure

Father, Father Father 

in heaven looking down at me. 

Another man to disappoint. 

Another man who wants my flesh 

scrubbed clean of my own scent.

Sexuality

you are desire, 

I, 

the sunflower waiting 

to be plucked, 

washed in sunrays, 

petals unfolding, 

quivering, always ready.

Violence

 when flesh meets flesh meets bone. 

Within this index, that’s all we’ll be, 

a tearing apart, a loosening of self.