early, awkward in our skin
we giggled on the field trip
when spastic Gwen Frostic
who dared to do art, spoke to us
then bought her bucolic woodblock
prints, stationery for letters home
small spiral notebooks to conceal
our secrets
once sex was introduced
we rounded out
used chemistry and whiles
to distract or lure
parted with expectancy
accepted the forces which prevailed
clock-work introduced potential
the hope of womb
cyclic ebb and flow
measured the vivid shapes
future could take
between contractions
talk continued and even laughter
let loose along the halls
before push rippled into next
through gains and losses
our inherent resonance reflected
power and fragility
the ways muscle tone developed
or atrophied from year to year
and recently, when Pantsuit Nation
gathered in the ethers
we reported ourselves
clicked “like” as if thirsty
to know “other” hungry
for these invisible connections
to bind us, or unbind us
as laughter does, the way
we have settled and must now
stand up, the way together
has always meant
YES
Barbara Joan Tiger Bass received her MFA from Mills College and her BA from Sarah Lawrence College. Her poetry is published in various print and on-line journals including; Canary On-line Review, The “J”, and California Quarterly. Her children’s musical, Kochka, was performed in Davis, CA and a staged reading of her play Sessions was done in Berkeley.
Image of the January 21st Woman’s March on Washington via Flickr Creative Commons.
