Pamela tells her feminist group she's thoroughly sick of women

Pamela tells her feminist group she’s thoroughly sick

of women even though she is one.

And she’s finding the line between being objectified and being

desired softer and harder to define.

Pamela desires an object to buoy her as she plunges

every morning into coffee

then her cups of tea and finally her wine

because breasts might seem like floats but they don’t

and it takes a while to sink in, all that swallowing.

Pamela wants to tell the Amazons that her canoe is leaking

but there’s something stuck in her throat and it won’t

come out; she wants to rise up and drift

away from the water as the crowd waves, without

parachutes or kisses or agenda at all.

Phoebe Smith

Phoebe lives in Wellington with the esteemable Bunky and teaches children's drama classes.