FEMININE SIDE I need a dress. Something silky & soft against my hairy legs. I want to raid my mama's closet of Gucci purses while she's away in the mall browsing through Sunday dresses, sifting through skirts & sweaters, eating egg rolls & styrofoam plates of fried rice. I want shoes that strap over the ankle, lipstick to shade the mouth that blow-dries manicured nails. I want something sequined &  over the shoulder, something with the color blue in it. I need perfume tonight. Colors & dyes at the nape of my neck to make the men go wild. No kissing you'll smear my lipstick, make my mascara run. I've got black beneath this dress. A dick easy enough to tuck between my thighs. There's 4 hundred years of oppression under here. Stereotypes in wispy eyelashes. Sticks & stones in the hymn of mama's pretty red dress. Men want to know my beauty queen secrets as they clinch a bitch in their fist in claustrophobic alleyways. They long for breasts, tissues to stuff in borrowed beige bras from wives & girlfriends who work late at the office in the only shoes that will go with that mini-skirt. Poem by Shane Allison