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121st Virtual Poetry Circle

Welcome to the 121st Virtual Poetry Circle!

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Also, sign up for the 2011 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge because its simple; you only need to read 1 book of poetry. Please contribute to the growing list of 2011 Indie Lit Award Poetry Suggestions, visit the stops on the National Poetry Month Blog Tour from April.

Today’s poem is from Three Women: A Poetic Triptych and Selected Poems by Emma Eden Ramos, which I’ll be reviewing next week:

Inferiority Complex (page 36-7)

I sleep on the kitchen floor when I'm alone.
Twenty-six-year-old virgin,
I moved to Sweden simply for the lack of sunlight.

Summer evenings are hardest --
I spend them behind blackout curtains,
tucked under used-to-be-white, stained flannel
sheets.

In grade school they called me Hobbit.
Fat-Ass-Farrah some years later.
My parents named me after a cute dead actress.
Cute? No
Dead?

It isn't that I don't try,
Only, how can I fix these size 36 hips?
This 25 inch waist? I swear I was born with it.
I'd give anything to refigure my upturned nose,
thin my full-bodied brown hair,
or just lengthen the 5'5" stature I've been cursed
with.

I love the winter months.
I can walk freely down the streets in Stockholm;
nobody notices.
I avoid the busy ones though,
the ones that are always well lit.
But sometimes I can't
and when I can't, it happens --
I'll catch a glimpse --
someone's looking,
somebody's seen.
The swollen-lipped whistle I dread,
the sharp sound that will inevitably trigger my dog-
like cower.
Because I am not stupid.
I know what he is thinking.
        ugly bitch!

No, I am not stupid.
That is not my problem.

What did you think? Share your thoughts.

Comments

  1. Wow, I really feel this person’s pain. Her feelings really come through in this poem.

  2. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
    Ann

  3. What a powerful poem .. thanks so much for sharing.

  4. Beth Hoffman says

    The desperation, the anger, the loneliness — all of it haunting. And yet this poem is ultimately (and strangely) beautiful. I would love to read more of Emma’s work!