Published and new poem

I can't say I'm not published now, because I am officially published in a literary magazine!  I found out about their call for submissions on Writerscafe and one of my poems impressed them, so now it is in a magazine called "Wednesday Night Writes."

https://sites.google.com/site/wednesdaynightwrites/current-issue

I also wrote a new poem, which I just finished editing today.  I don't even remember what riled me up to write this but it is kind of a culmination of my feelings on the skinny beautiful women we admire and tear apart with media.  While women are a victim of all these fads and diets and trends, I have a certain dislike (hate is too strong a word) for the people that wholeheartedly follow these trends, whether they help to enforce them and to create them or whether they are outside the trends and simply follow them...

I don't know if I should be saying more with this poem, but it has gone through a lot of adjusting (rhyme scheme, evening out the amount of lines in each stanza) and I feel proud of the finished product.  Maybe I will change it later.  I don't know at this point.  I personally like it.

Crumbling Under a Feather:

You strip naked and then

Display your protruding ribs and your gentle curves

Bask in the lust and admiration of drooling men

Glued to their MacBooks, fingers pressed to nerves

You think you are a sex symbol

Your beauty commands respect

Strong and nimble

Attention simply what you expect

But you’re wrong about your power

You’re weak, tied with a tether

A fragile, dainty flower

Crumbling under a feather

You do what they tell you to do

Tiny tits are better than sagging thighs

Body hair like buzzing flies

Cellulite

Overnight

You are a socialite

Swallow pills so hearty

Starve day after day as you become more vein

Stay up all night at parties

Prolong the pain

Hover over the toilet below

Half crying, half vomiting, hungover

Your guilty pleasures are reality shows

The Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover

Love, sex and lust

Drive you to do this

Or maybe you just want trust

For someone to care instead of dismiss

The powder from the thick white sponge invades your nostrils

It is the bread, your red nail polish the wine

Vogue and Cosmo your glossy gospels

Your closet of designer shoes a shrine

Cocktail dresses and Gucci are your new burger and draught

Finding nourishment in Martinis, icy words

Why do you think this will make up for your past?

All it does is make it worse

Sexism

Bored on a Monday night, I decided to look up "woman" on UrbanDictionary, just to see how people define the word.  The site is often full of opinionated definitions and I expected some sexism.  The first five pages or so were full of people reacting in anger to offensive definitions posted earlier and their definitions praised the strength, beauty and independence of women.  I decided to hunt for the sexist definitions pages ahead.  Here is what I found:

"a man's sex toy for a very short period of time until he finds a new one" "A portable sandwich making machine, but can also double up as a personal sex machine." "The useless skin around a vagina." "An Object, not unlike a toaster."  "creatures which cannot seem to do anything right, ever." I was most affected by the definition, "the useless skin around a vagina."   It is so cruel and callous, and yet I admire it's simplicity and wit.   There were several pages of insulting comments with hundreds of likes on each one.   I noticed that these insults were "revenge" for definitions in the "man"  section of UrbanDictionary, so I went to that page,  wondering if the comments there were any worse.  I doubted it. I found these definitions: "A person with two heads." "A derogatory term for someone who is being unfair, stupid, idiotic, asshole-like, monstrous etc..." "A twisted creature that hates women but still wants to fuck them." "Baby-maker and/or sex toy.  Should be tied to a bed at all times for convenience and to avoid havoc." This one was a hilarious comeback from the women:  "The useless lump of flesh surrounding the penis." "The ultimate source of all EVIL" There were also some pro-man definitions, but not nearly as many as there were for women. Apparently the men were so pissed off by these definitions (supposedly but not proven to be written by women) that they decided to let out their inner male chauvinist pigs and fight back. But do these stupid definitions give either men or women an excuse to insult each other?  Not really.  What both parties want is to be treated equally and to not be belittled.  More sexism will not solve this.  I think this kind of "retaliation" is ridiculously pointless.  Both women and men should reconcile and try to treat each other with respect instead of bitterly putting each other down.  Anyway that is my rant for today. If you have some eloquent literary opinions on the issue of sexism, enter my contest on Writerscafe: http://www.writerscafe.org/contests/Sexism/46155/ On another note, I have a "post-infectious cough" apparently, which basically equals a painful, never-ending dry cough and a nasty cold.  I was supposed to sing at a Family gathering yesterday and at a Canada Day event today, but my singing sounds like Tom Waits so I couldn't do either performance.  I've had this cold for the past week and it has been hell.  My nose is runny, red and painful, I feel lethargic all the time, it's hard to breathe, my sense of taste is weaker (but not completely gone), my ears are plugged up so it is hard to hear, my throat is full of phlegm, I'm constantly coughing, when I sneeze mucus flies everywhere and it really hurts (projectile sneeze), I'm hardly ever hungry and when I laugh I sound like I'm on helium.  I know I don't have cancer or anything, but it's a really crappy cold.  I feel utterly useless. This is embarrassing, but since this is an unpopular anonymous blog, I don't see the danger in telling you.  My coughing is so violent that it causes me to pee my pants.  Even if I just peed!  It is really frustrating and embarrassing.  Lately I have been using my menstrual pads for this and they have actually been working pretty well.  Sorry for that disgusting confession, but I really wanted to tell someone... or something.   I'm pretty much certain I got this cough/cold from my brother.  Everyone in my family has it now, so I guess it's contagious. I have been doing lots of things to get better, but they haven't been working since my cold either gets worse or stays the same.  I guess I just have to wait it out.  The doctor says it will take 2-3 more weeks, which is very saddening!   The doctor prescribed us a cough medicine that contains hydrocodone.  Yup, the main ingredient in Vicadin.  I looked it up and it is pretty much illegal to use in cough syrup in the U.S. (I am Canadian).  So far, the only side effects I have had are drowsiness, weird dreams and flashing when I close my eyes to go to sleep.  I also sometimes hear buzzing in my ears. I hope I'll get better soon.  Happy Canada Day, everyone! (Sorry to those who aren't Canadian...)