for Resolana Heartfire, in solidarity with Katrina Guarascio,
notorious corrupter of children
Suzi write a poem
Write a poem Suzi
You will need a pencil
lined paper and the ability
to abide by the rules
Suzi listen
Follow Suzi follow
my instruction Suzi squeeze
your poem like a baby bird
between the palm
That’s a simile Suzi
Write a simile Suzi
Sarah follow suit Sarah
Sarah follow Suzi
Sarah write a poem
Write a poem Sarah
No Suzi you may not write
about the dream you dreamed
last night Suzi
No Sarah no poems
about Bengal tigers and
motorcycle gangs
no whips chains or politics Suzi
Suzi what did I say Suzi
Be a positive role model for Tommy
Tommy write a poem Tommy
No Tommy you may not write about your father Tommy
Suzi your poem is on fire Suzi
We don’t like poems that self-immolate Suzi
Suzi your poem is bleeding all over the floor Suzi
Sarah sanitize Suzi for the sake of
Common Core and all that is good in the world
Wash your poem Suzi
Tommy take a tip from Suzi
Tommy be clean Tommy
Tommy take it to the river
beat your poem against the
sun-bleached stones Tommy
Suzi your poem is too hot
Suzi
too dirty
Suzi
too dark
too tell it on the mountain Suzi
too syllabic Suzi
too Nora Zeale Hurston for me Suzi
too multilingual Suzi
too narrative
too satirical
too surreal
too real
Sarah I said to write a poem
follow appropriate instructions Sara
Suzi like baking a cake
be a good girl Suzi
Write your poem
Suzi
Here let me
Tommy
Sarah
Suzi
let me
add a pinch of personification
write metaphor with moderation
forgo too much alliteration Suzi
too much alliteration sounds too Spanglish Suzi
sounds like rap Suzi
like hip-hop
like a bastard tongue
like a patois
like a borderland
like a poem with no passport
You don’t want your poem deported, now do you Tommy?
Suzi?
Sarah?
Tommy
Tommy
Write about safe things Suzi
Suzi write of chaste things Suzi
Sarah write about Sarah but not too much Sarah, Sarah
And for Christ’s Sake don’t write about Christ
Don’t crucify your poem, Suzi
Suzi stop staring at clouds
No you may not write about clouds Suzi
No not about burning tongues and raised fists Sarah
No not about flying guitars and anarchy Tommy
No not about razor blades or vaginas Suzi
Yes, I know you have a vagina Suzi
Don’t write it about it Suzi
What are you feminist?
We don’t write about the F word, Suzi
Sarah
Sarah
Suzi
Tommy
We don’t write about war or APD police brutality or the homeless
We don’t write about sex or sexuality or sexual orientation
No depression, Sarah
No cutting, Tommy
No teenage pregnancy, Suzi
We just
don’t Suzi
We don’t
We don’t
We don’t
Suzi standardize your poem Suzi
Suzi write a poem
dear heart
write a poem
Suzi