Confessions of a Barefaced Woman
poems
Allison Joseph
Confessions of a Barefaced Woman Copyright © 2018 by Allison Joseph All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner.
Book layout by Madison R. Foster
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Joseph, Allison, 1967–author.
Title: Confessions of a barefaced woman / Allison Joseph.
Description: First edition. | Pasadena, CA: Red Hen Press, [2018]
Identifiers: LCCN 2017029207 |
ISBN 9781597096096 (softcover: acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781597097550
Subjects: LCSH: African American women—Poetry.
Classification: LCC PS3560.O7723 A6 2018 | DDC 811/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017029207
The National Endowment for the Arts, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the Ahmanson Foundation, the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, the Max Factor Family Foundation, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Foundation, the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Audrey & Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation, the Kinder Morgan Foundation, the Meta & George Rosenberg Foundation, the Allergan Foundation, the Riordan Foundation, and the Amazon Literary Partnership partially support Red Hen Press.
First Edition
Published by Red Hen Press
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Poems from this collection previously appeared in Atlanta Review, Baltimore Review, Chiron Review, Connecticut Review, El Dorado Poetry Review, Folio, Green Mountains Review, Lake Effect, Limestone Circle, Pacific Coast Journal, Perceptions, Quercus Review, Soundings East, Shenandoah, Sidewalks, Smartish Pace, Spillway, Spindrift, Spoon River Poetry Review, Sundog: the Southeast Review, Tamaqua, Tongue: A Literary and Visual Arts Journal, Verseweavers, and Wellspring.
CONTENTS
ON THE SUBWAY
IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
FUTURE DOCTOR
BAD DOGS
FIRST SCHOOL DANCE
FATHER’S MOTHER
READING ROOM
CHILDHOOD BALLADE
GROWN-UP SHOES
PERFECT RIDE
SPIRIT OF ’76
LITTLE BROTHERS
ADVICE ON BEING A PESKY LITTLE SISTER
PENMANSHIP
NOTHING BUT WORDS
MY TUTOR
FOR BEAUTY’S SAKE
DINNER HOUR
FIRST CONCERT
ADOLESCENT CONFESSION
POEM FOR THE PURCHASE OF A FIRST BRA
ELEGY FOR RICK JAMES
O HOLY NIGHT
BIRTH OF A NATION
FOR MY BROTHER
SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE WHITE PEOPLE
HEADSTONE
AFTER SHAVING MY HEAD, I BEGIN TO THINK BEAUTY IS OVERRATED
CONFESSIONS OF A BAREFACED WOMAN
A HISTORY OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN HAIR
TO BE YOUNG, NOT-SO-GIFTED, AND BLACK
THE RELUCTANT INTEGRATIONIST
GRACE JONES AT THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
THE OTHER ALLISON
VACATIONS
EX-NEW YORKERS
THE AISLES OF MISFIT EQUIPMENT
THE VAGINA BUSINESS
IN PRAISE OF THE PENIS
VENUS DE MILO TAKES A SEXUAL ENLIGHTENMENT FOR WOMEN CLASS
NAPE
WHY MEN WHISTLE
ON VIEWING TWO DIFFERENT DATE RAPE MOVIES
JANIS JOPLIN VISITS CHEERLEADING CAMP
ROLE MODELS
DAUGHTER, MOTHER, SISTER, WIFE
WHAT WOMEN WANT
BAD MEALS THREATEN OUR MARRIAGE
FLIRTATION
JUNK FOOD
DINNER PARTY
WHY I’M NOT A SCHOLAR
IT WASN’T A LOVE CONNECTION
THE IDEAL LISTENER
HOMAGE TO LEONARDO DREW’S NUMBER 8.
I LOVE YOU, JIMMY POQUETTE
BALLADE FOR DOROTHY PARKER
MISERY: A GUIDE
THE LIARS
REGRETS
It was comic on Seinfeld: Jerry looks up to see a naked man
across the aisle, an unfolded New York Times placed
strategically over his lower girth. They trade insults
and fat jokes, banter like Abbott and Costello by episode’s end.
But it isn’t funny on the number six train
when I look up from my chem book, see a man
across the aisle both clothed and exposed,
his pants held up by rope, dirt clumped in his matted hair,
long body sprawled out, limbs splayed, head wobbling.
He