Okay, or
entitled little shits
Okay, or
entitled little shits
until taught
not to throw
sand, “bitch,”
direct punches.
A catchphrase
can be cute,
explain away
aggression, catcalling, rape.
Blame, “can’t help themselves.”
Try putting other
words there, say,
“choice,” say “can help themselves.”
Don’t say, “not all.”
Don’t be boring:
I don’t want to hear
about our vigilance.
Raise boys
to be conscious,
to be ashamed
of their coercion.
Dina Del Bucchia is the author of Coping with Emotions and Otters (Talonbooks, 2013), Blind Items (Insomniac Press, 2014), and Rom Com (Talonbooks, 2015), written with her Can’t Lit podcast co-host Daniel Zomparelli. Her short story, “Under the ‘I’,” was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust RBC Bronwen Wallace Award in 2012. She guest edited the Humour Issue of Poetry Is Dead magazine, is the Artistic Director of the Real Vancouver Writers’ Series and is an otter and dress enthusiast. This poem is published as part of the No Comment project.
More Writing from the No Comment Project
No Comment by Alessandra Naccarato
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for play by Kayla Czaga
back, cover by Elaine Corden
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On Receiving Bad News by Mallory Tater
The Disappearing Woman by Leah Horlick
Boys Will Be Boys by Dina Del Bucchia
Nicomekl River by Claire Matthews
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Metamorphosis 6: 401-674: A Paraphrase in Still Pictures by Annick MacAskill
black pearls by Jónína Kirton
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