Paradelle for an Imperfect Feminist
Hanna Hupp
Am I something like the woman I’m trying to be?
Am I something like the woman I’m trying to be?
The face that owns me, curse without cure,
The face that owns me, curse without cure.
Curse something that owns me, face like I’m the woman cure.
I am trying to be without that.
The tyrannical mirror, incessant shame of eyes,
The tyrannical mirror, incessant shame of eyes.
Will I be pretty, will I be sweet, goes the song,
Will I be pretty, will I be sweet, goes the song.
I will be the mirror, the sweet song of shame goes.
I, tyrannical pretty, will be the eyes incessant.
Looking-glass desires, the body that betrays,
Looking-glass desires, the body that betrays.
I command you to look, you command what you’ll see,
I command you to look, you command what you’ll see.
You’ll see what the body desires, I the glass you command,
The looking command that betrays you to look.
Will you command the face to be something pretty,
Look like what the tyrannical body desires to own?
Will looking eyes see the incessant curse of glass?
You command I be mirror. You’ll be me, shame.
I am woman, sweet song that betrays.
The I that goes - the I without cure - I’m trying.
Hanna Hupp is a student at Western Washington University, studying English Literature and Humanities. She has wholeheartedly embraced her adoptive home of Bellingham, and when she isn't reading and writing poetry, she spends much of her time finding ways to explore it on foot.