From “The Girl Box Series”

I gaze at the ceiling

I stare at the floor

To my left—sorrow

To my right—a wall

___

Place three girls in one room

One will laugh

One will cry

One will excel in silence

___

Some born small

Some born smaller

Some have smallness thrust

Upon them

___

Deformed, unfinished

Sent before my time

I am subtle, crushed at the edges

I am sublime

___

Go on, say it

Little Box is not a hoo-ha

___

Open wide

Hinge back

Scream!

No one is listening

___

box pantoum

Can’t you dream out of the box?

Marbles rattling in your brain

Your mother was in pain

She said no when she meant yes

Marbles rattling in your brain

You will never amount to anything

She said no when she meant yes

Sickness, death, and despair

You will never amount to anything

Your mother was in pain

Sickness, death, and despair

Can’t you dream out of the box?

___

meret oppenheim

Little Box does not wear a mink coat

Her name is not Meret Oppenheim

___

box measures

You are a freak, a cuboid

A weirdo trapezoid

A rhomboid asswipe

A four-eyed coalition

You are flat as a board

Titless as a parallelogram

A straight line     what’s your point?

A broken     system

Go back to where you came from

___

the great square

The great square has no corners

The great tone makes a tiny sound

The great image has no form

The Great Mother has no proof

The great square is finally silent

The Long March ends in death

I do not want to die in a box, says mother

I want to laugh in open air