Molly Rice - Girls Only (United States)

from #BreakTheBias by Various

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about

Molly Rice has held several residencies teaching poetry, storytelling, theatre, film, and English as a Second Language in hundreds of schools, colleges, and organizations in North Carolina, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Russia, and Hungary. She is an award-winning theatre educator and her theatre program's civic engagement work with those who live on the margin has earned much praise. She has been published in various webzines and magazines including Fortnight Magazine, The Stinging Fly, Iodine, and Bloodshot: Journal of Contemporary Culture. She was a contributor to a major anthology of poetry and art entitled, A Conversation Piece. She was published in Voices and Vision: A Collection of Writings By and About Empowered Women. Her chapbook Mill Hill was published by Finishing Line Press, Kentucky in 2012. Her first full collection Eighty-Eights will be published in fall 2022 by Press 53, Winston-Salem. She resides with her husband and son, Adrian & Micah, in Hickory, NC.

lyrics

GIRLS ONLY

for Shell

We struck one – nothing.
We struck two and something –
Little pyro-poof!
Our hands huddled around it,
Wishing it.
We threw it down
On our dry leaf mound
And magic!

We had a secret.
Girls only –
Since we weren’t allowed in the boy’s den.
But out of our hands, it went wild
And our secret
Smoke-signaled
Above the trees
Tattle-telling.

Shell-shocked we rushed
To a plastic pool
And wrestled the water
Into the woods
But it slipped from our fingers
And fell short of help.
By the time we reached
A pail of rainwater, it was way too late.

We ran home red-handed
And phoned without giving our names.
The sirens came.
The shame lasted as long as
The charred circle remained.

First from our fingers,
Then out of our hands –
Let us learn:
Not too quick to prove.
Our power is within.