Modern Womanhood in 5 Senses (Welcome to the 21st century)

☑ Sight 

I am 12 years old when I am ushered

into modern womanhood, the first

unsolicited dick pic arriving just after

my first period.

☑ Touch

I have given my phone number to a man

I am not really interested in, and he

in turn begins to stalk me; he feels

the sting of rejection, and I feel the ice

from his glass as it hits my face.

☑ Taste

I drink tequila, bold and ringing

on my tongue, and the night is bitter

static around me, every other sensation

lost to a person I will never know; I taste

tequila for days afterward, trying to

remember what happened to me.

☑ Sound 

I hear, clear as a clanging bell and

just as sturdy, my boyfriend's angry fists,

pounding on my locked and rattling door

after I jump from his still-moving car;

I hear his voice, clear as a clanging bell,

though not as bright or shiny, as he recounts

every wrong thing I have done.

☑ Smell

I am in a cloud of smoke and body odour

as the drunk asks to hold my hand, late

at night on an empty train, as I walk

the platform to the sound of "whore,"

screamed from schoolboy mouths, as I

sit on an airplane next to a man

twice my age who tries to stick his finger

in my ear while I sleep.

Grace Dellis has a background in Rhetoric and works in in the Mental Health & Suicide Prevention sector. She has grown up fond of the written word and has been a poet - in some form or fashion - for over 20 years. Originally from the US, Grace currently resides in Sydney, Australia with her husband and their two beautiful sons.