TMI

Midnight chatter of internet support groups

Technology is the new drug; Apple IVs plugged

straight into vein, smack marks faded into

I have to get drunk to have sex/

Have you tried a vibe/It’s like I’m

a giant fleshlight/We came home from honey

moon virgins/I like pot first

the anonymity of chat-rooms better than any

/Hi My name is/ You can self-diagnose as many

as you want. Addictions for everyone; Addictions like

candy. Praise all the nativity babies, Allah, and WebMD for

viral kittens, unlimited cloud storage, celebration of net

neuroses. Who needs sunlight anymore when you can

bask in the glow of i-everything?

I can’t even remember her last name.

When I moved to Laie, I knew no one.

The waves I knew from the other side

Moon-pull, salty lips, sand between toes

Always and never changing

She lived in the same hale, next door, alone.

We did the usual things

Small talk at the mail boxes, recycle junk mail

B-grade movies at the town’s one-screen

Beach walks at sunrise or set

Doing homework, once, we watched

Cheap wooden wardrobe explode

Albino specks flying blind

Pulpy wood shards

After hiking the mountain,

Pineapples shrubs, volcano rock, butterfly eggs

Waterfall swim in sports bras and bare feet

Pillows—laptop—lipstick migrated, only taped-up posters left.

I don’t remember if it was your idea

Or mine

Or if it matters

Separate but Equal

She –who calls herself a feminist–

wanted to talk about the way

children play at the park:

the boys                       physical.

the girls                                    afraid

of the difficult stuff.

Look at the way

they play                     differently.

Genders are                  different.

People –by people she means me–

want to make everyone                        the same

clearly this is a bad thing.

My son –who had been watching My Little Ponies–

interrupted.                  –Thank God.–

Buried under the everyday, I never asked her:

Why are our girls taught fear?

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Keri Withington studied poetry as a bachelors student, earned an MA in Writing, and is now taking poetry classes while working towards a Women’s Studies graduate certificate at the University of Tennessee. Additionally, she is an English faculty member at Pellissippi State Community College, where she sponsors her campus’s creative writing club.