ADVENT DAY 14 * kathryn l. pringle!

ride home

mama said good girls don’t

say. they be sweet

they be

accommodating.

when you was

done you asked

I do something wrong here?

pinned arms over head

one-handed, right

the other

pushed my pants down

the bruised wrists

the stomach ache

must’ve done something

must’ve made him think

but then you said

you so tight

have you ever

must’ve done something

made him think

not the type to get

this can’t be that

mama said

but not me

kathryn l. pringle

kathryn l. pringle's book, Temper & Felicity are Lovers (Lost Roads Press, 2014), won the Brigham Award for Women Writers in 2013. Her book, fault tree (Omnidawn, 2011), was selected by C.D. Wright for Omnidawn's 1st/2nd book prize. she also wrote RIGHT NEW BIOLOGY (Factory School, 2009) & The Stills (Duration Press, 2006). A new book, Obscenity for the Advancement of Poetry, is forthcoming from Omnidawn in 2017. in 2012 /13 she was a Lambda finalist & received a grant from the Fund for Poetry. she lives in Durham, NC.

Curatorial note: The following poems are a response to a call for poetry about rape culture for the annual Delirious Advent Feature; the call is in turn an immediate response to the Rolling Stone story “A Rape on Campus” about rape culture at the University of Virginia. However, they are also part of a larger conversation about rape in poetry communities. Curated by Jessica Smith and Susana Gardner.