To the chivalrous men in your well-tailored armor

I thought about apologizing for this poem

Then I thought about every article I've read about women apologizing too much.

I am not angry, but I am not sorry.

To the chivalrous men in your well-tailored armor

Do not call me oversensitive

I am not.

In your false passion/reason dichotomy,

I am cold as rock.

When the women go to the salon for manicures and gossip

Because centuries upon centuries of gender stereotypes and private sphere bullshit have given them that role

And then mocked their petty lives

When they watch romantic comedies and bake cookies together

To get over the men who broke their hearts

Because they have been taught that men break and women are broken

And all that heteronormative active/passive garbage

When they sit in their book clubs and talk about people and feelings

I will be long gone

So don't call me oversensitive.

Do not tell me these are isolated incidents

That I've let this whole thing get to my head

Need to take a step back

I have stepped back so far, all I can see is the big picture

And let me tell you about institutional oppression

There are no isolated incidents

Do not tell me that women's issues are simply none of your business

I recognize that you don't feel responsible

I don't hurt women, I respect them, I protect them

I understand that nobody thinks this is their fault

But this is everyone's business

And the next time I hear you tell someone to man up

Or defend your definition of chivalry

Your duty to protect the fragile female

(I know you don't believe you think I'm fragile)

I will remind you how responsible you are

Do I look like I need your protection?

Don't call me oversensitive

And the problem is this

I believe you when you tell me

I would never touch someone without asking

Damn straight you wouldn't.

I believe that you trust my knowledge and intelligence

Without doubting me on the grounds of my

Natural incapacity for higher thought

But sir

Every time you have noted that someone's skirt was too short

Shirt was too low

Mocked her for wearing what she wants

Agreed with an authority who told her not to distract the boys

As if their distraction is her fault

You are blaming a victim.

For every time you excused oppression

It's a cultural thing

Maybe that's just how things work over there

In that part if the world

For every time you have laughed at a prostitute joke

Read an article and said

She should have known not to walk alone

Not to visit that part of town

Sir that is rape culture.

You are still a perpetrator.

But this isn't about rape

Every time you say

It's a guy thing

I just don't understand women

Women are naturally more risk-averse. It's their maternal instinct.

Fuck maternal instincts.

Let's climb a mountain together

Then you can tell me I am risk averse

When you complain about female privilege

About girls who get free drinks

You can take back my drink and give me free birth control

Take back your protection and give me female superheroes

Take back your offer to walk with me in the bad part of town

And stop objectifying us in the first place

Stop judging me if I am not well dressed

And then mocking me when I go shopping

Stop standing up to give me a seat on the bus

And start standing up to give me a seat in congress

So when you and your chivalrous army come around in your well-tailored armor

Only to find that I, too, have shields
And I have been fighting for years

Maybe stick around and look who I'm fighting

Instead of helping me off the battlefield, back into my private sphere

Don't call me oversensitive.

First Rain of the Year

And it pours
And all of us in our thick down jackets and
Warm snow boots
Had nearly forgotten

We had been overcome
By the icicle trees
By long scarves and gloves that were
Never thick enough
By bright blue skies when it was
Too, too cold for snow
And how delighted we had been
When it warmed up to blizzard weather
And we could run outside and trip in the snow banks and
Brush fresh flakes from our eyelashes
Without fearing that our
Nose hairs
Might freeze
How delightful indeed

So we had forgotten about rain
And what devastation!
When at last we awoke
What rude reminding!
As we go out for the first time
To the unmistakeable grey
Above, below, and as far ahead as we can see

We had forgotten the rain
That seeps through the holes in our Converse
And soaks our favorite down jackets
You can hear the shock everywhere
"...feel like a walrus..."
"...home during the monsooon seasons..."
"...wait for summer and flip flops..."
"...SO COLD."
And everyone who had been thrilled by the frozen pond
And those who had begged for the snow to melt
Come together in
Sheer detestation

First rain of the year
And we sit by our windows
And drink the cocoa we had saved
For one final blizzard
"Just in case"
And watch the water flow down the
Twisting sidewalks
Melting feet of snow in hours
And see our fellow students
Shaking off their umbrellas
Adjusting their socks inside their galoshes
Jumping over wide flows of dirtied slush

Every year we forget
Look forward to springtime and sunshine
Forgetting real spring
Forgetting April showers

First rain of the year
And it's barely March