In Taylor Swift’s album folklore, the song “mad woman” takes on how sexism and misogyny force women to hold back their anger. I decided to tackle that subject with the same quiet ferocity in the form of an acrostic.
we’re all a little mad
Everyone says smile and play
Nice, so I flash my pearly whites
Open my mouth wide and let the
Jaw strain taut against skin
And sinew and the gaping maw
Deepens into an infinite
Abyss until no face, no smile remains
The title of my poem references Alice in Wonderland, using the word “mad” to mean insane. That’s how it feels to live in a world where a woman’s rage gets treated like a mental illness. When we show an ounce of anger, sexist jerks call us crazy. How dare we have a human reaction to injustice, oppression, violence, and mistreatment?
Each line starts with a letter that spells out the word enojada, Spanish for “mad” or “angry” in the feminine. The first line addresses a statement many women hear all the time, telling us to smile when we simply go about existing in the world. If she doesn’t flash you a smile, she’s a mad woman with Resting Bitch Face.
In response, the persona in the poem obliges to open her mouth wide, displaying her teeth. But it turns into a monstrous act, animal even, as it turns into an opening abyss to consume. Like a snake from the Garden of Eden, she unhinges her jaw to take him all in and send him to hell.
The structure of the poem takes the form of that abyss, with a flowing, lyrical stanza and only two instances of punctuation. The first comma comes after the phrase, “Everyone says smile and play nice.” It’s the intake of breath we all take as we hold ourselves back from totally losing it. But this time, it acts as the breath before she decides to devour her enemy.
The second comma comes at the end: “…an infinite/Abyss until no face, no smile remains.” The pause adds back a sense of tension missing from the lines that came before, flowing freely with passion. It brings her back to reality, where she must fix her face and return to feigned normalcy.
Thanks for following along and reading my poetry.