Slut

I feel like October's been insane. I've barely gotten a chance to sit down and breathe and write besides what I have to write for my college classes (which are so much fun, by the way). Luckily, one of my classes is English Comp 101, so we get to do lots of writing naturally there.

My professor is a total feminist and fangirl (she spent a good five minutes of class just raving about Poe and Orwell), and when I told her my idea for one of the creative assignments, she got so excited.

The prompt, in summary, was to consider how the world or certain attitudes might change if we got rid of one word. We could choose any word we wanted. I decided to remove the word “slut.” Here's the result:

Slut
Words,
whispers,
rolling off her bare back like
rain.
Stares,
silence,
only when she passes like a
fall breeze.
Jokes,
judgment,
all from those who barely know her
name.
Somehow they think they have the right to her
body.
But they don’t.
Hands off, because you don’t.
Mouths shut, because you don’t.
“Go home,” “Cover up,” “Slut,” “Slut,”
“Slut.”
Shut up.

#

Confident strides down
hallways wide with
packs of people who
can only gaze.
Legs, shaved or prickly,
shoulders, clothed or exposed,
but chin always tilted up,
she spares them little more than a second glance.
They have no words.
There are no words.
She is she,
and they are they,
and that must always be the way.

How has your October been? What do you think of the poem? Leave a comment!