This one is an oldie that not many people have seen...
Hitting the Books
by Brittany Renaud
Studying at ol’ J.N.G.,
P.S.,
My favourite librarian--
the only librarian I’d ever known then--
told my class—me, that boys carry their books under their arm
like a car t-boning a semi and girls carry their books against
their guts: arms criss-cross applesauce like a curtsy.
Why are girls’ guts needed to press against books like a caress
while walking upright and proper?
Why is a boy’s book jammed in his armpit as if it can perspire?
In the modern day can’t the boys and girls play at equal measure?
But how can they when girls must hold their books like a treasure
while boys tuck them under their arms and go about their pleasure?
At the post-secondary university level,
there are more arms criss-crossed applesauce than t-boning semis
and yet jammed armpits sit higher post post-secondary.
Hitting the Books
by Brittany Renaud
Studying at ol’ J.N.G.,
P.S.,
My favourite librarian--
the only librarian I’d ever known then--
told my class—me, that boys carry their books under their arm
like a car t-boning a semi and girls carry their books against
their guts: arms criss-cross applesauce like a curtsy.
Why are girls’ guts needed to press against books like a caress
while walking upright and proper?
Why is a boy’s book jammed in his armpit as if it can perspire?
In the modern day can’t the boys and girls play at equal measure?
But how can they when girls must hold their books like a treasure
while boys tuck them under their arms and go about their pleasure?
At the post-secondary university level,
there are more arms criss-crossed applesauce than t-boning semis
and yet jammed armpits sit higher post post-secondary.