strangers will stop asking you
to prove you’re a woman.
a Real Woman gesticulates.
a Real Woman has a bosom that could feed
a Village. a Real Woman thrusts
her hips when she’s angry.
and makes her lips both BIG & small
************************which is why

Female Anger confuses. You say you are Not
Angry but we’ve seen you enjoy The Footage:
Prey trouncing Predator. Look:

If I want to Take You Down, I want to do it
with an Impossible Note—one that explodes into blossom
when it touches you. I want your Heart to stand up—beet
red & lacy. I need you to lower
your Fear Stick & Listen—I need you to Help
********Curate a Gallery of Love.

*

Karyna McGlynn is the author of Hothouse (Sarabande 2017), The 9-Day Queen Gets Lost on Her Way to the Execution (Willow Springs 2016), and I Have to Go Back to 1994 and Kill a Girl (Sarabande 2009).  She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Christian Brothers University in Memphis.