By Button Poetry
.
.
Blythe Baird, performing at Park Square Theater in Saint Paul, MN.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:03
The only other girl at the party
00:05
is ranting about feminism.
00:07
The audience is a sea of rape jokes and
00:10
snap backs and styrofoam cups
00:14
and me
00:17
They gawk at her mouth like it is a drain clogged with too many opinions.
00:19
I shoot her an empathetic glance and say nothing.
00:22
This house is for wallpaper women,
00:25
what good is wallpaper that speaks?
00:28
I want to stand up but if I do who’s
00:31
coffee table silence will these boys rest their feet on?
00:34
These boys. I want to stand up but if I
00:37
do what if someone takes my spot?
00:39
I want to stand up but if I do what if everyone notices I’ve been sitting
00:42
this whole time?
00:45
I’m ashamed of keeping my feminism in my pocket
00:48
until it is convenient not to, like
00:51
at poetry slams
00:53
or women’s studies classes. There are days
00:56
I want people
00:57
to like me more than I want to change the world
01:00
Once, I forgave a predator because I was afraid of starting
01:03
in our friend group,
01:06
two weeks later he assaulted someone else.
01:08
I am still carrying the guilt in my purse,
01:11
there are days I forget we had to invent nail polish
01:14
to change color in drugged drinks
01:16
and apps to virtually walk us home
01:19
and lipstick shaped mace and underwear designed to prevent rape
01:22
Once a man behind me on an escalator shoved his hand up my skirt
01:25
and no one around me said anything
01:28
So I didn’t say anything.
01:31
Because I didn’t want to make a scene.
01:34
Once an adult man made a necklace out of his hands for me
01:37
I still wake up in hot sweats haunted
01:40
with images of the herd of girls he assaulted
01:43
after I didn’t report
01:45
all younger than me
01:47
how am I to forgive myself for doing nothing
01:50
in the mouth of trauma
01:53
the silence not an act of violence too
01:57
Once I told a boy I was powerful and
02:00
he told me to mind my own business
02:03
Once a boy accused me of practicing misandry
02:06
“You think you can take over the world?”
02:09
And I said no I just want to see it
02:11
I just need to know it is there for someone
02:15
Once my dad informed me sexism is dead
02:17
And reminded me to always carry pepper spray
02:20
in the same breath
02:23
We accept this state of constant fear as just another component
02:26
of being a girl, we text each other when we get home safe
02:29
And it does not occur to us that not all of our guy friends
02:32
have to do the same, you could literally
02:36
you could literally saw a woman in half,
02:38
and it would still be called a magic trick, wouldn’t it?
02:42
That’s why you invited us here, isn’t it?
02:44
Because there is no show without a beautiful assistant?
02:48
We are surrounded by boys who hang up our naked
02:51
posters and fantasize about choking us
02:54
and watch movies we get murdered in
02:57
We are the daughters of men who warned us about the news
03:00
and the missing girls on the milk carton and the sharp edge of the world
03:02
They begged us to be careful
03:06
To be safe, then told
03:08
our brothers to go out
03:10
and play
03:12
thank you
03:13
(applause)
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
***
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project and want a deeper connection with our community, please join us as a Premium Member today.
Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: Screenshot from video