Poetry
Rhapsody in Pink
by Safia Elhilloat brunch the waiter brings me a drink i did not order
frothed inside a tiny cupanother hands me
the smallest forkdainty & infantile beside my
boyfriend’s full cutlerywe go for milkshakes
& the cashier fetches a pink straw for the little lady
my womanhood a second & eternal childhood of its own
unequipped for black coffee or big spoons protected
from the world’s dangers by the ministrations of men
who sell me razors cast in pink for the tender skin
of my furred legsthinner pens for my little hands
steady curriculum to install me in my smallness
my damsel choreographyto hold the door open
for the ladythen follow me inside
