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Author’s Note, 2/24/23:

The following poem has often been mistaken for call and response. It is not. It is a recitation of things that men and women, strangers and intimates had either said to me, verbatim, or unapologetically meant. I  wrote this when I was 26 years old. At that time, although many of the quotes relayed had been spoken multiple times over the years, by many different people, the following had been uttered and collected within one year’s time. I particularly remember an elderly woman stopping me at the grocery store to tell me that I shouldn’t cover up, “like that.  You’re very proportional.” At 39, I still hear these things regularly. It wasn’t okay when my youth was the excuse. It’s not okay now.

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8/23/10

Hi there, aren't you just adorable, how cute, I've been where you are now

I've been you, you'll get there one day, I'm obviously what you aspire to be, I know

what you're thinking, Let's have a look at you, sweetie, honey, darling, sugar

pie, baby girl, hippie chick, lemme tell you how it is, I feel so empowered around you, by your

humility, so threatened by you, what I can only describe as your

creativity, well, that certainly is . . . interesting, just as easily dismissed as you are impossible to ignore

you caught my eye, you must see the world like peppermint sticks and

christmas trees, I might refuse to serve you, I might want to align myself with your image in my mind

like that's all you are, what I can see is certainly how you will define yourself, my opinion will

of course, be your truth, I was benevolent enough to share it with you and you're obviously so

poor you'll settle for anything, you seem so young, I bet you'll fall for anything, I can just tell you have no

vision, direction, or understanding, you're so amusing, I wonder how you'll serve, as a pet project

good girl, I imagine precious little, so I know, you're a simple, one dimensional item, to be avoided

when filthy and used when made up to be pretty, you could be, why do you hide it, get in the car

why don't you love me with your body like you do with your eyes, I never met anyone like you before

though I haven't been looking long enough to see everyone that way, why do you ask, what do you mean

by that, I've got you pegged, be still, or you'll mess it up, again, you're so nice, you must have so much fun

such a happy girl, with her meager ration so generously handed down

now, you're hurting my feelings when you say things like that, hush up, before you ruin

all that I've done for you, you must like the attention, you wouldn't dress like that if you didn't

after all, I'm just a man, well little one, you're looking at a real women, we're all adults here, listen

look me in the eyes while I cover you with derision

don't look me in the eyes unless you're prepared for me, because I take it as an invitation

coughing and shuffling loudly, to spring such a trap, look up, look away

you have no right and no say

how dare you meet me halfway, I'm so much your better

elder, richer, cleaner, what do you know, I am wiser

you can tell, 'cause I don't need to use other people to deflect my insecurities

here, Let's have you go over to the projector, you want to do that on your, no, I don't have to say please

to the likes of you, you owe me, I know you, 'cause, even though you share little, I'm an expert at assuming

and of course you love me and you're grateful and there's nothing

you wouldn't do for me, is there, I know how to stroke, expertly

like a fast food restaurant manager, or a pimp, or the one who trained me

to whom I'll always defer, good job, wouldn't you rather sit closer, maybe in my lap, or at my feet

as I am to god, so you shall be to me.

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- Originally published in Transparent.