In Defiance of Cosmo
In Defiance of Cosmo
By Allyson Yoder
Photo by Haley Duncan, Sophomore
Because I have been wounded by hard nails that
glimmer like jewels on fingertips and toes,
I will not.
Because the sirens who smile perpetually
through loud pages of magazines
couldn’t take those faces with them
into motherhood and sagging hips,
because they can’t kiss fully
through painted lips,
and their arms do not soften on embrace,
and their slender feet are afraid of roots,
I will not.
And when someday their babies lean in for the hungry suckle
their breasts will leak not milk but silicon,
and they will quiet their uneasiness not
with the gentle drift of lullabies,
but with currents of dizzy sound from the television,
and their children will wail high and empty—
Then
I will offer brown bread and red
apples from my hands.
And I will know sorrow
and compassion
and prayer
but I will not,
no,
I will never
know
envy.
Short URL: http://www.uhsperspective.org/?p=4707