Sometimes I think things...

“seventeen: war

my girlfriends and I put naked barbies
in the strawberry jello
ken had a mohawk, kilt, tiny earring, and eyeliner
we girls danced in the living room
there were no boys by that time
just us all in shiny pink
waiting for something to happen
not expecting it to be anorexia or cancer or never
seeing one another again
or war
we were like those naked plastic dolls
swimming in a soft sweet rosy sea
while ken waited outside
untouchable
hoping no one would mistake him for g.i. joe”


Block seems to have something against punctuation and capitalization, even in her prose, but it doesn’t stop her from being an incredible author. The above is a poem from her latest book, “how to (un)cage a girl”
She never fails to inspire me, but the above scared me a little bit. I haven’t been seventeen for very long but that poem spoke eerily of the experience. Can we please be done with war?