one oh one
destruction instructions:
a man calls a woman
Janet Kuypers
poem based on her 1997 poem “ a man calls a woman”
italicized lines are from a 1976 essay from Bob Lamm
2/8/15
every time a man calls a woman a “fox”
he tells her she is to be treated like an animal
every time a man calls a woman a “honey”
he tells her she is meant to be consumed
every time a man calls a woman a “girl”
he tells her she can’t think like an adult
every time a man calls a woman anything
less than woman he tells her who’s the boss
so yes, we all know who the boss is, boys
you’ve done such a good job of telling us
Because every time a man makes a joke about rape
or wife-beating he issues a warning to women*
and you’ve done such a good job of warning us...
Because now it is time to take it all back
after the way you’ve treated us
for millennia
Do you think we’ll just sit back
and continue to take it?
Do you think we don’t know how
to use our voices,
do you think we don’t know how
to get help from our friends,
do you think we don’t know how
to use our bare hands,
or use the court system
or use a gun?
Like we don’t know how
to use our bare hands —
because if you want
to insult us again
by saying we ’fight like a girl’,
then let me correct you.
We fight like a woman.
And we fight dirty.
* the two italicized lines are a quote from Bob Lamm
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