Thursday, May 01, 2014

modern maternity

today she glued eyelashes on
an errant lash here and there
impossible to pay attention

force yourself

look at her look at her
not a hair on her vulva
whisked clean
as an eleven-year-old
but pregnant

her eyelashes point up
down
sideways
a film starlet from the 50s

she spills from her bra
a peony tattoo climbs up her leg
her eyelashes are made of mink

5 comments:

Elizabeth said...

What IS that with the shaved pubic area? It's disconcerting --

Jo said...

Well, it feels incredibly soft and silky and heightens sensation massively, so I think it can be quite fun...

It has been pointed out to me that there is a generation of people (men too) who've always shaved, and therefore shaved pubises don't have any connotation of 'child' or pre-pubescence for them, so their association is just with a bit of bad girl, a bit of sexiness.

I'm really liking the new standard, that says, what people want to do with their pubic hair is totally up to them...

Ms. Moon said...

I just love the poem.
Thank you.
(But I will say that I remember when we fought against the status quo of the hospital which forced us to shave before we had our babies and we hated that and how can we be at this point now where we shave voluntarily?)

Radish King said...

Oh fuck yes a brilliant poem.\xo

Betsy MacWhinney said...

Beautiful poem, Ms. Coyote. I hope you're writing a lot and finding everything you should have in your new house and not shaving DOWN THERE, as they say euphamistically.