My latest on Whisper and the Roar
I knew my name
when grown men
called me ‘honey’
fondled my braids
and pulled my
10-year old body
stiff with resistance
onto their hard laps
I knew my name
when the male high school teacher
called me “sweetie”
and told me not to worry about
the 70 on my exam
because girls don’t need
an A in chemistry
to be a good wife and mother
I knew my name
when the teenage boys
called me ‘ice queen’
‘cock tease’
when I didn’t want their
sloppy tongues down my throat
their rough hands
on my budding breasts
I knew my name
when men followed me
down the street
called me ‘bitch’
‘fucking dyke’
when I wouldn’t smile
or say thank you
to their declarations
of lewd things
they would do to me
once we were alone
I knew my name
when my children
called me ‘mommy’
389 times a day
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Brave & Reckless 
Absolutely stunning, Christine. I am in awe of this and the poems that inspired it.
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Christine. Good grief. You blow me away. This series is the best work you have done collaboratively and it’s absolutely superb. Absolutely superb. I’m rendered speechless. I’d love to be included if you do something like this again but truthfully you all did a better job than I think I could. I’m so impressed, envious, wonderstruck, and mostly proud of you
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I read this to two people I was so impressed with it. The biggest compliment I can give is this: I was jealous I hadn’t written it. That isn’t meant badly but literally. I think when you love writing and you read something that is so damn good, you just wish you’d written it, and yet you adore the person who did. This made me feel that way about yours. You just SAID EVERYTHING here and I think so many of us can relate to this intensely. I want to print this out.
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Thank you so much Candice. This whole collaboration moved me deeply and I think your piece was brilliant.
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