Ten Slam Poems By Women For Women

Image by Danielle Buma via Flikr / CC BY 2.0

Delicate, daring, and hauntingly beautiful, these slams by badass lady bosses are sure to make you laugh, weep, and subsequently want to pen your very own poem. They’ll restore your faith in humanity (okay, maybe not all of humanity, but at least in the femxle artistic community) and give you the inspiration you need to take on the rest of 2016.

We’re not into spoilers here at FEM, so we’re going to let the pieces speak for themselves. Find some of their most poignant lines highlighted below, and then do yourself a favor and check out the poems in their entirety. You won’t regret it. And hey, it’s just about the most justifiable study break in the world – don’t worry, those Snapchat filters will still be there when you get back.

 

“Choi Jeong Ming” by Franny Choi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRFyWLM6k_o

“I promise I will never stop stealing back what is mine.”

 

“When The Fat Girl Gets Skinny” by Blythe Baird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16Tb_bZZDv0

TW: Self-injurious behavior, eating disorders

“If you develop an eating disorder when you are already thin

You go to the hospital.

If you develop an eating disorder when you are not thin to begin with

You are a success story.”

 

“A Midsummer Night’s V” by Nora Cooper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wns6zIwYmjg

“What says sweet romance quite like a vaginal cleansing wipe?”

 

“Explaining My Depression To My Mother” by Sabrina Benaim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqu4ezLQEUA

TW: Depression, anxiety

“Mom says happy is a decision

But my happy is as hollow as a pin-pricked egg;

My happy is a high fever that will break.”

 

“And The News Reporter Says Jesus Is White” by Crystal Valentine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPEdcr_XePk

“How can she say Jesus was a white man

When he died in the blackest way possible?

With his hands up.

With his mother watching.”

 

“Compassion Fatigue” by Ebony Stewart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeRafMKWg-Q

TW: Rape

“We Americans

Land of the free

Can only keep our motto if we keep our mouths closed

And isn’t that what all rapists want?”

 

“Paper Dolls” by Sierra DeMulder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k4ebSEeCwI

TW: Rape, sexual assault

“We are taught

From the moment we leave our pink nursery

That we are collapsible paper dolls

Light to hold

Easier to crumple.”

 

“Labels” by Wyatt Fleckenstein

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWsId7od794

“This just isn’t a conversation small towns know the words for.”

 

“Dear Ursula” by Melissa May

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLSnNSqs_CQ

“Ursula: I don’t want you cut down into bite-sized pieces.

You weren’t easy to swallow for a reason.”

 

“How We Forget” by Loyce Gayo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO7VlK7VAgQ

“I forgot my rage, and the pulse it leaves underneath my tongue

I forgot my tongue, and how it used to fit so perfectly in my purse

Next to my womanly duties.”