here a girl
may not learn . here
a girl may not
have pleasure . here
a girl is just
a cunt which cooks
they have faces
these girls . in Chibok
they have names
they have faces . they
are not cunts
like death is not a noun
like fear is not a word
& we’re all disabled
to some degree , imperfect
bodies around imperfect minds
, all somewhere
in the gender
somewhat
slightly
lost
& hiding behind masks
. trying to look good
in the hall of mirrors
, crazy-house
unbalanced & looking
for shoulders to stand on
Reuben Woolley, born in Chesterfield, now living and working in Zaragoza, Spain. Poems published in Domestic Cherry and forthcoming in Tears in the Fence and in the online magazines, Ink Sweat & Tears, Bone Orchard Poetry,Nutshells and Nuggets and The Screech Owl. His first collection, the king is dead, was published in July 2014 by Oneiros Books.