by Janet Bentley
Cockless cockfights and
nerf battle axes
Licorice pistols
Artillery of anecdotes
and Ann Kelly suits
Fleschettes of flesh
flinging phermones
They squirm to
march
In unison, twitching
hair swoop. . . curve of the cheek flirt barrage
The objectified
from
the object land of edgewise
Where words are drowned
out by the music of their voices,
Descend into
trenches
Their fodder packed by
misread feminist doctrine
These Ladies who Lunch
are launched into All Man's Land.
Exploding bombs that
burn the land with controversy
Confounding the "real"
troops who carry full crotch batteries
Perturbing the
regulars
Their full metal
jackets stuffed with flowers.
Hey, girls! Let's lasso those fashion pantywaists stuffed in
corporate battle dress
Drag them to our houses
Pull them back
Soothe them with fables about penis envy and vibrators
Keep them from sucking up an antiseptic straw lacquered with semen &
war-sport
Tell them to build their own staircase
Open the new door of self
Drawing by Nils Madsen.