Don’t Hate the Men

who offer to carry your bag and hold the door open,
corral you with benign hands on the small of your back.
Don’t resent the flowers they leave dead
on your doorstep for you to throw out,
the shade of their torsos, damp moss chest hair,
rustled breathing, balding heads and sweaty balls
they unstick from thigh skin when you’re not watching.
Don’t flinch when they slip inside and you fit
their notions of affection, a worn-in leather glove
love letters signed with “don’t forget the milk.”
Don’t hate the men who ask for permission
when they don’t want to, who let you climb them
limb by tattooed limb, hardwood flesh footholds,
their flogging fingers in worship,
they want you, yes! It’s your featherless body
they squirm for, the men that haven’t broken you yet,
don’t hate them
because they don’t know

*

Andreea Ceplinschi is a Romanian immigrant writer, waitress, and kitchen troll living and working at the tip of Cape Cod. She writes poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Her work has been featured in Solstice Literary Magazine, Cathexis Northwest Press, Hare’s Paw Literary Journal, The Blood Pudding, and elsewhere. When not writing for herself, she volunteers for Passengers Journal. Find out more about her at poetryandbookdesign.com