IT’S OKAY
we judge each female body when we see it
(don’t say you don’t do it we all know
we all do it) here I am at a stoplight looking
at the woman walking her dog thinking
she’s pretty she would be pretty if her belly
was a little firmer you can tell it’s soft
by the way her t-shirt bulges like the way
my t-shirt bulges over the seatbelt
catching a glimpse of myself in the
–
window I am surprised I thought I was thinner
(this is a memory the ghost of me) and now
I notice two men are also watching
the woman she is pretending
it is not happening they are stopping
pointing calling they talk about
her body with each other she keeps walking
–
it’s hard to remember this used to happen to me
(I’m now a mother) but I did walk down the hill
on Rosemary Street men’s voices
saying looking good sugar honey sweetie so
sweet show us
your stuff I was thin and terrified the thing to do
was keep walking sometimes I’d smile a little
smile to show my tolerance
sometimes I kept my face so still
it looked like it wasn’t happening sometimes they yelled
louder sometimes I walked a tiny bit faster not too fast
the thing was to pretend it wasn’t happening
–
and it’s okay now if the president says pussy
it’s okay because boys will be boys girls will be
my daughter will grow up and walk on sidewalks
her body will be her shell her body will be her
–
downfall we will assign a number to it
–
her softness a space we will let
words bullet into it’s okay
baby I’m just watching you walk by
A note about “It’s Okay”: From my car window, I watched two men follow a woman down the street, catcalling and making comments about her body. This encounter spurred the poem, which helped me process my reaction to the well-known Donald Trump video and to the many comments and opinions generated by the video – and what at it all means for past, present, and future American women.
Have a news-stained poem of your own? We’d love to read it. Send submissions to tips@www.coloradoindependent.com.
Photo credit: Nicolas Alejandro, Creative Commons, Flickr
Kim- You absolutely nailed it. We can’t let this subject drop, and we can’t ignore a single incident. Too much, too long, too primitive, too painful. Thanks for speaking its absurdity in poetry, the most eloquent language available.