Don\u27t Be Another Girl

DON’T BE ANOTHER GIRL is a collection of poetry that braids together themes of familial relationships, death, abuse, mental illness, feminism, and attempts at healing. These free-verse and prose poems use pop culture, politics, and elements of nature as vehicles to explore and reject the violence of the western white patriarchy. In the first section the speaker questions the curses that flow out from bloodlines—genetic traits, behaviors, and gender expectations. The second section utilizes lyrical prose blocks that thread together trauma and sleep paralysis, following an emotionally immobilized speaker who struggles to step off a dangerous escalator, away from toxic relationships. The third section slowly shifts, towards confronting internalized sexism and defining sisterhood. Under the influences of Sharon Olds, Rachel McKibbens, Julia Koets, Jaquira Díaz, Anne Carson, Jan Beatty, and Audre Lorde, these poems attempt to call in question the sexist ideals of a male-dominated society