day EIGHT HUNDRED and ONE

Portrait of Chelsea Manning by Sarah Allen Reed

day EIGHT HUNDRED

Dear Men

don’t ever tell a woman she should look

other than how she already looks

she’ll spend a lifetime trying

do remind a woman

she is desirable, even on

her worst days

don’t ever tell a woman she needs

to lose weight—she is beautiful

regardless of the size she wears

do remind her, often,

that she is more than her body

she’ll forget.

don’t tell a woman she is responsible

for the attention

a man gives her;

do tell her she is

free to wear

what she wants

don’t tell a woman

you love her for her body

it’ll fade.

do tell her you love her for her mind

and her million invisible brilliances

this will last forever.

--Rachel Toalson

day SEVEN HUNDRED and NINETY NINE

The Men are Surprised

 “There are no words in the English language/I could scream to drown you out” – Phoebe Bridgers

The men are surprised

and sad

they are unsure what to do

with the information

they are reading

how someone they love

could do so bad,

how someone whose art they appreciate

could sink his teeth

into the women who made the mistake of

being near him.

How he could dangle the promise of fame

and music making before young girls

full of talent

and then pull it away

and break them

and leave them

broken.

Leave them so they never want to make art again.

The good men are surprised

and angry

so very angry for being fooled.

They are also angry because they don’t know what to do now.

Will they still be good men

if they listen to the music of a bad man?

What does it say about them?

But the women nod.

We know better than to trust

that the men who make art

that sings the songs that live in our hearts.

We know better.

The good men are surprised

and they want to know

how

How do the women know not to trust?

How do they know that the beloved artists is bad?

What did he do or say to make it so clear?

And the women smile and

think about intuition

the way we have learned

like wolves

when to run

and the women

say

because the men that make art

that live in our hearts

are also

and always

still

men.

--Ally Malinenko

day SEVEN HUNDRED and NINETY EIGHT

Hansel and Gretel 2019

These maggots will learn
new tricks
because they were created inside
a tube filled up
with sugar and spice
or at least that's what they were told.
Everything nice like Pinky and Blueboy,
sitting by the piano,
wondering how to play
the keys when they don't have fingers.

Vienna Finger Cookies might be
turned into witch fingers
loaded with dough. Vienna sausages
might get turned on,
bloat and then join small children
across the cross-walk.
A needle pulling thread through the back

of children's heads is hoping
to replace brain waves

with tiny new fingers for the maggots.

Will the cookie or the sausage win
the piano solo prize?

Both. It's a duet.
The prize results in being able to choose
as many new fingers as you would like
from all the caged up children.

--Juliet Cook and j/j hastain

day SEVEN HUNDRED and NINETY SEVEN

Dear Mansplainer

I do not need you

to explain everything

until the magic

of the world

fizzles out.

I do not need you

to point out the things

I already know—

but can’t possibly know,

because I’m a woman.

I do not need you

to tell me, in so many words

(but mostly tone),

all the ways you are

superior to me.

A woman has no need of mansplaining.

--Rachel Toalson

day SEVEN HUNDRED and NINETY SIX

Save Herself

It was a story I heard,

how women

throughout history

who were unable to create their art

started to rearrange the furniture

in their homes.

It made me laugh at first,

what a strange thing to do,

to move a couch or an end table.

To pull the heavy weight of the television set

across the room.

To shift the angle

and the ease

and the viewpoint

over and over again

because you cannot put your heart into this world.

I think of my mother.

I’m sure you are now thinking of yours

and wondering if there is some truth to this claim.

Some sad kernel that goes beyond

the anonymity of women’s work

the anonymity of women’s art

something that speaks to a larger

more feral pain

a witchy sort of anger

something she does when the men are not around

so they come home to this change

that she alone invoked

and conjured up

like a spell,

a house that is a prison

a domesticity that is a trap

women’s work as shackles

so instead we have

a woman rearranging her space

in order to rearrange her mind

in order to

save herself.

--Ally Malinenko

day SEVEN HUNDRED and NINETY FIVE

Blur

Let's draw a picture of

just you and me

wait! there's mommy so she makes three

combs my hair with reckless

abandon

this blur has just come

and slipped it's

hands in

this is not the blur

it's not the blur

can't focus my eyes

too many thoughts collide

this isn't the blur that I saw last time

not the same blur

not the same one at all.

Feel it pushing past my teeth

rolls like dice

lands with a clink

snake-eyed blur staring up at me, this

shallow, worker-smith's heat

he says

aren't you awful shy, my love,

so here is what I think

it's not they or them

or you or I

shoved, as children,

into the temperance fire

my dark-haired darling,

we are meant to

have these trials.

Of course, I say,

of course.

I wait for someone to

pull me up from

out of this

forge.

--Cristina Kennington

day SEVEN HUNDRED and NINETY FOUR

Go Fund Me?

I am definitely on board

with the idea

of giving all dignitaries kittens to

hold while they discuss

the most serious matters of our time

would the soft fur and mews

lighten the room

with laughter and sweet souls?

or would they put the kittens

on the ground

to run amuck

as they

do

--Heidi Blakeslee

day SEVENHUNDRED and NINETY THREE

But Definitely Not a Finish

They took away

the swimsuit competition

in a beauty pageant,

and guess who’s

complaining

It’s a way to admire

a well built body, they say,

unaware that the way most

beauty pageant women

get their well built body

is through some combination

of surgery, starvation,

bingeing and purging,

excessive exercise.

Despite opinions to the contrary,

most women don’t come standard

with the Perfect Body

According to Societal Expectations.

How will we really know they’re

worthy of the Miss America title?

Well, maybe we judge her on her mind,

rather than her body.

That’s a start.

--Rachel Toalson

day SEVEN HUNDRED and NINETY TWO

A Woman Should Teach Her Daughter How to Navigate This World

I.

Smile and laugh

seek out and call to joy

but only smile when you mean it

Don’t let them make a decoration out of you.

Don’t smile when they tell you to.

You will be told often and not kindly.

II.

Walk with a key between your fingers.

Spine straight.

Keep the music off in your headphones.

Never alone at night.

Be aware of who is behind you

and who is coming towards you.

Be aware of everything.

III.

Wear clothes you like

that make you feel good,

love your body because it is strong and beautiful

and will carry you through this life

but know others will comment

and judge

There is nothing you can do about this.

IV.

Others will touch you without asking.

Sometimes playfully

and they will expect you to smile and

enjoy the attention.

Sometimes they will touch you violently.

You need to protect yourself from both.

Use your words to stand up for yourself

unless it could get dangerous.

There is no way to tell if or when it could get dangerous.

V.

Read, learn and be curious.

See as much of the world as you can.

Don’t hold back your opinion.

Speak with confidence in your beautiful mind

You have a voice and you should use it.

They will call you “shrill” when they don’t like it and “good girl” when they do.

Both will make you feel terrible.

VI.

Sometimes you will be the only woman in the room.

Sometimes this will not matter.

Most times it will.

You are just as smart as the rest of the people in that room.

Your opinion and thoughts count just as much.

Regardless not everyone will see it this way.

They will imply often and loudly that you do not belong.

VII.

Not all women will be your friend.

Many will cozy up to men for protection,

leaning in to the patriarchy.

Regardless, we mustn’t abandon those women.

Learn everything you can about the patriarchy.

It is slippery and dangerous and multisided,

a some point it will crawl inside someone you love and use their voice

to say things that you will never forget.

Understand it can only be dismantled from the inside.

Understand that you will never be on the inside.

VIII.

If you forget everything else,

remember this:

When you ask yourself

at night

Am I good enough?

Regardless of what the world tells you

The answer

will always be

Yes.

--Ally Malinenko