An Education- Christine Ray

 

We came of age

in miniskirts

lace gloves

ruffled anklets

beneath our high heels

desperately wanting to be Susan

before reading Rich, Friedan, Lorde

Dirty Dancing

taught us about illegal abortion

and that no one puts Baby in the corner

 

Politically awakened

we marched

arm in arm

young

bold

idealistic

passionate

braless in our

Take Back the Night tee shirts

labrys necklaces

triple pierced ears

kissing our girlfriends

boldly on the mouth in public

convinced that we were changing

the world for those

coming up behind us

 

Life after college

awakened us

one by one

forced us to crawl out

of our bubble wrapped ivory towers

blinking back the glare

of recognition

that power suits

and brief cases

MD or PhD after our names

did not inoculate us

 

Monsters we feared in the night

were evenly matched

by the casually accepted misogyny

we encountered on city streets

conference rooms

hospital ERs

court rooms

the Senate

a pestilent virus

resistant to UV rays

our oppression

objectification

reduction

was so rampant

so normalized

we forgot to blink

we didn’t think to

demand gas masks

to protect our lungs

our souls

from its toxic smog

© 2017 Christine Elizabeth Ray – All rights Reserved

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Christine Ray writes for Brave and Reckless and is a member of Sudden Denouement. She is also curator at Blood Into Ink and barista at Go Dog Go Cafe.  She is an aspiring badass.