Jan 2020
new year's eve.
I was in college and hopped in a car, rushed through the dark night to a party – a Memphis house spilling confetti from every crevice
champagne and ***** clinking in every corner and millennials draped over every velvet or mahogany surface
velvet and sheer sparkles in an ocean of amicable inebriation
sitting straight up against a wall
i asked the boy with the dark hair if he was a feminist
he lifted a glass and ran his fingers through the forest of his head and said 'i don't know what that means'
took a sip
i took a sip too, rolling my sparkling lashes up to the ceiling and back in front of me
where a fat man in a golden suit leaned closer to me, his gaudy chains clinking together
he looked over his dark glasses into my shining eyes
'are you saying that women don't have the same rights as men already?'
the people in the room froze where they were
like the planets, rotating and revolving, ceased to move an inch all in a moment
you could hear the sparkles and tinkling of jewels swinging from inertia
my chest only rose and fell while i gripped my flute closer
'i'm not sure if you've heard, but women get paid less than men in federal jobs.'
the crocodile in front of me let out a laugh that shook the room and every crystal in it
'you really think that women don't have equality? what world do you live in?'
too small I felt in that moment, shrinking under the weight of my downcast lashes
until I gaze at my feet on the floor
firmly planted, peeking from the hem of my skirt
next to his flopping scaly shoes
and my lashes raise to the ceiling, blue eyes shining light forth like the crown of a saint
I rise above his head as the room gradually cranes their whole bodies forward to hear my words
'it's people like you who make it worse. women are contained and stifled and oppressed into submission by men like you who are too worried about their capacity to keep power through honest means to give everyone what they deserve"
the room closes in around the crocodile, shrinking beneath the shine of truth
"and you will find that someday you will be knocked off your horse by a little girl who has more power
unfinished
I was in college and hopped in a car, rushed through the dark night to a party – a Memphis house spilling confetti from every crevice
champagne and ***** clinking in every corner and millennials draped over every velvet or mahogany surface
velvet and sheer sparkles in an ocean of amicable inebriation
sitting straight up against a wall
i asked the boy with the dark hair if he was a feminist
he lifted a glass and ran his fingers through the forest of his head and said 'i don't know what that means'
took a sip
i took a sip too, rolling my sparkling lashes up to the ceiling and back in front of me
where a fat man in a golden suit leaned closer to me, his gaudy chains clinking together
he looked over his dark glasses into my shining eyes
'are you saying that women don't have the same rights as men already?'
the people in the room froze where they were
like the planets, rotating and revolving, ceased to move an inch all in a moment
you could hear the sparkles and tinkling of jewels swinging from inertia
my chest only rose and fell while i gripped my flute closer
'i'm not sure if you've heard, but women get paid less than men in federal jobs.'
the crocodile in front of me let out a laugh that shook the room and every crystal in it
'you really think that women don't have equality? what world do you live in?'
too small I felt in that moment, shrinking under the weight of my downcast lashes
until I gaze at my feet on the floor
firmly planted, peeking from the hem of my skirt
next to his flopping scaly shoes
and my lashes raise to the ceiling, blue eyes shining light forth like the crown of a saint
I rise above his head as the room gradually cranes their whole bodies forward to hear my words
'it's people like you who make it worse. women are contained and stifled and oppressed into submission by men like you who are too worried about their capacity to keep power through honest means to give everyone what they deserve"
the room closes in around the crocodile, shrinking beneath the shine of truth
"and you will find that someday you will be knocked off your horse by a little girl who has more power
unfinished
