wyrdwind

About Face

Check those angles girl, go,

catch that reflection, clocked,

got it from your mama, yeah,

nesting iron maidens, doll,

it’s her voice first of all.

How old were you, then?

You thought he was your friend.

Control, highlight, contour, blend,

so mature for your age mistaken

attention for respect, pass

pretty butcher’s cut shots

tossed about like trash

on a Vegas sidewalk.

Guillotine

Real proud of your seat

at that table, built

on the backs of your sisters,

hands clutching papers, facts

have no place here child.

You’ll never say the right words

to unlock your humanity

in their eyes.

Compromise,

dress to suit their tasteful lies,

work twice as hard, get half

as far, just a clown hamster

climbin’ the wheel grindin’ us

to dust.

Heavy Flow

Oh we always had the vote,

when we walk away they don’t

got no new drones or soldiers, no

sons to mutilate in their image,

viral replication grimaced

visage, we’ve countenanced

drunk, drugged, expired genes

long enough’s enough,

best believe their tantrum’s rough,

unworthy of a mother’s love,

lookin’ down while they rise above,

say they’re playin’ God with our permission,

but that’s just playin’ woman.

Perverse Incentive

Leverage or true love,

can’t have both, I’ll tell ya

which one they’ve chosen

happily for thousands, yes,

thousands of years. Bred currency

from women’s tears. Money

murders natural selection, a poor

companion. They’ll never own

what they done. They won’t atone

when they can run

to the bottom of a bottle,

to a sympathetic teat,

to the chatroom snivels

of brotherhood.

Lilith

Trust,

I came here for you,

the things I want can’t be bought,

and ego is the price of entry,

oh you won’t leave in one piece,

but on your back you’ll know peace,

one brave enough to lay beside me,

a woman free.

This bed is where we choose,

with nothing left to lose,

we make it every day, space

for the other. Trust

I won’t choose another.

Calico Supremacy

Here’s to my scrappy

mismatched girls, colors

askew, kids by who knows,

you’ve had more than a few.

Everyone’s “baby”

regardless of age, working

three jobs just to get paid

less than a suit makes

in one day.

Belly laughin’ off risks

you take just to get laid,

bowls by trailer doors, brassy

patron saints of strays.

Girl Scout

Give me a bow saw

and a roll of twine, in time

I’ll give you a house.

A bed sheet from Goodwill

becomes shorts and a blouse,

grim you know nothing about,

but scraps from a dumpster

sprout and put food in your mouth.

Always something to be done,

real garden gangsta, no chip

on my shoulder, no gun

done as much, think yourself tough,

’till you get shot, hospital’s got

your address, bankrupt—

your mama at the dining table

cryin’ late, some decision

you made. Your daddy

too busy split or in prison say

you a real man now,

catch a charge that’s how,

dead beats all the way down,

watch your sisters drown.

Find some fucking ground

or make it, libraries are free,

plant some fucking trees,

sit under them and read,

there’s a way no one bleeds,

homie food’s where you grow it,

point of the buddy system is,

we’ll be fine, we stick together,

in time,

your hand in mine.