Simone de Beauvoir Sends Trump a Sext
By Sandra L. Faulkner
“A man is in the right in being a man.”
I’m going to pull you by the power tie
and drag you through the rooms of my mind
like a man beg me for the boot in your face
my foot imprint eye-black smudged on your cheeks
“and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him.”
Then, I will top you like a cork-stopper
screw the cap on tight tighter than your golf grip
small balls streaming past a wet bunker
scoring high on the way to your hole in one
“And she is simply what man decrees; thus she is called ‘the sex.’”
I will be the bottom of your form
sign my name in permanent blood
as you like it and should like it
my stain a sheet of satin in your drawer
“For him she is sex—absolute sex, no less.”
Let me talk you all night
grab your midnight part
until we see the wee hour sparks
and glisten in the TV light
“He is the Subject, he is the Absolute—she is the Other.”
I’m going to punt and peel the layers
push my fingers into your dough
the middle of us like a big-bigger pie
my box of plums tucked inside my pants
Sandra L. Faulkner is Professor of Communication and Director of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Bowling Green State University. Her poetry has appeared in Literary Mama, Ithaca Lit, Gulf Stream, damselfly and elsewhere. She knits, runs, and writes poetry about her feminist, middle-aged rage in NW Ohio with her partner, their warrior girl, and two rescue mutts. Read more at https://bgsu.academia.edu/SandraFaulkner.
Photo credit: “Desire” by Sandra L. Faulkner ©2018