Picaroon Poetry - Issue #16 - May 2019

Beth O’Brien
People
I tell my boyfriend whenever I am on my period,
or whenever I’m catcalled
because I want him to know that one is natural,
the other is not, but they both happen
to women all the time.
I told him when a man shouted at me running
from across the road;
when an Uber driver slowed down beside me
and took time out of his day to wolf-whistle;
and how at 7:30am, a drunk man called me “Oi”,
asked me where I thought I was going,
before telling me where I should.
His most recent reply was:
‘People are so weird!’ And by, “people”
He meant, “men”
and he didn’t even realise.
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