“… I Heard Someone Call Women’s Shoes Wearable Vaginas”
by Kate Peper
—Jeanne Wagner
If shoes are to vaginas, what are purses?
When someone stole my purse, I followed
the trail of tell-tale junk to a stairwell,
the empty bag blending in with the debris.
An insane woman sat next to me on the bus.
Her hair one long, turd-colored mat. She rummaged
in her loose-fitting sleeves to whip out fruit like a magician.
Are sleeves another kind of throat waiting to speak?
Every shoe I own winds up stained and holy.
Every purse I own winds up too full, its well, bottomless.
If women waited a week to get their hair washed
and “set,” it’d be enough time for a spider to lay
an egg sack deep under her hairnet crust.
I know this because someone told me she saw baby spiders
coming out of a woman’s hairdo on the bus.
The empty purse is a stand-in for a womb.
Slippers are the vaginas of old women.
Flip-flops are the souls of children neve
... Show more...“… I Heard Someone Call Women’s Shoes Wearable Vaginas”
by Kate Peper
—Jeanne Wagner
If shoes are to vaginas, what are purses?
When someone stole my purse, I followed
the trail of tell-tale junk to a stairwell,
the empty bag blending in with the debris.
An insane woman sat next to me on the bus.
Her hair one long, turd-colored mat. She rummaged
in her loose-fitting sleeves to whip out fruit like a magician.
Are sleeves another kind of throat waiting to speak?
Every shoe I own winds up stained and holy.
Every purse I own winds up too full, its well, bottomless.
If women waited a week to get their hair washed
and “set,” it’d be enough time for a spider to lay
an egg sack deep under her hairnet crust.
I know this because someone told me she saw baby spiders
coming out of a woman’s hairdo on the bus.
The empty purse is a stand-in for a womb.
Slippers are the vaginas of old women.
Flip-flops are the souls of children never born.
Stilettos are the moment your heart is pierced
by the knowing you will die alone.
Kate Peper
“I have a tendency to write about ugly topics. I guess I’ve always loved imagining what it’s like to be someone or something that’s considered weird or just plain awful. When I send these poems out, no one seems to know what to do with them. Is that rebellious enough? I hope so.”
#poem #poetry #literature
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