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