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Two Poems by Jenny Olson


by Jenny Olson

the bit in my mouth


bit in my mouth, hard to talk

reins to control me

bit in my mouth, hard to talk

walk here, no there, wait, come back


bit in my mouth, hard to talk

reins to keep me in check

bit in my mouth, hard to talk

say this, no that, shut up girl, don’t say anything


reins to make me stop

why did I settle for this?


bit in my mouth, tore out

reins dropped by my side

bit in my mouth, no fucking more

hello life, i'm here!



Barbed Wire


always trying to cross

over those barbed wire fences

can’t take the easy

the short way

over

gets stuck

bleeds

clothes get tangled in the barbs

as do her feelings

tangled and mangled

why is she kept out

better question

asks herself

why she needs to get over

what’s on the other side?

barbed wire

needs a pair of wire cutters

she knows the dangers

of barbed wire

knows if she gets stuck

against the fence

and winter comes

she could die

from barbed wire

but she doesn’t stop

not today at least

and not tomorrow

trying to get over that fence made,

of barbed wire

wait!

over there! that way!!

concertina wire

something to make her feel

as the pain is much again

of how the men in her life

took it all away

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