just wanted to put in this poem that i absolutely love by >sandra cisneros

loose woman

they say i'm a beast.and feast on it. When all along I thought that's what a woman was.

They say I'm a bitch.Or witch. I've claimed the same and never winced.

They say I'm a macha, hell on wheels,viva-la-vulva, fire and brimstone,man-hating, devasting,boogey-woman lesbian.Not necessarily, but I like the compliment.

The mob arrives with stones and sticks to maim and lame and do me in. All the same, when I open mouth, they wobble like gin.

Diamonds and pearls tumble from my tongue.

Or toads and serpents Depending on the mood I'm in.

I like the itch I provoke.The rustle of rumor like crinoline.

I am the woman of myth and bullshit.(True. I authored some of it.)I built my little house of ill repute.Brick by brick. Labored, loved and masoned it.

I live like so.Heart as sail, ballast, rudder, bow.Rowdy. Indulgent to excess.My sin and success-I think of me as gluttony.

By all accounts I am a danger to society I'm Pancha Villa. I break laws, upset the natural order, anguish the Pope and make fathers cry.I am behond the jaw of law.I'm la desperada, most-wanted public enemy.My happy picture grinning from the wall.

I strike terro among the men.I can't be bothered what they think. Que se vayan a l ching chang-chong! For this, the cross, the Calvary.In other words, I'm anarchy.

I'm an aim-well, shoot-sharp,sharp-tongued,sharp-thinking,fast-speaking, foot-loose,loose-tongued,let-loose, woman-on-the-loose

loose woman.

Beware, honey.

I'm Bitch. Beast. Macha. Wachale! Ping! Ping! Ping!

I break things.