What should I
have said to
the pale bald
dome? He stared
over his mask,
striding beside me
down the alley:
What do you
think of a poet
who wrote “Only
those with vaginas
can call themselves
women”—is that
transphobic? asking me
(poet of the
vagina) to judge.
Yes, I said,
walking fast as
my left foot
let me, Sorry
I can’t join
you for a
drink. He thrust
his card. I
took it, didn’t
say What do
you think a
woman is—a
hole? I was
a slippery fish
gasping in a
net, lips stretched
like a smile
a mouth open
wide, made for
swallowing.
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Joan Larkin has published six books of poetry, most recently Old Stranger (Alice James Books, 2024). She co-founded Out & Out Books during the 1970s feminist literary explosion and has co-edited four anthologies, including Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our Time and A Woman Like That: Lesbian and Bisexual Writers Tell their Coming Out Stories. Her honors include Lambda, NEA, and Shelley Memorial Awards. A lifelong teacher, she lives in northern New Jersey.