Band of Boys

By Amanda Gayle Oliver

Boys.
Boys beat
Drums
Tap
Women
On
The head,
Exhale
Control.
As he
Breathes in,
Cramps
Inside her
Uterus
Cry out
For release.
Hormones
Gush
Out
Through
Tear ducts,
Orange,
Red,
Corduroy.

Boys.
Boys use
Sticks
To hit
Drums.
Slap women
On
The ass.
Sing
Of freedom
And love.
Women watch,
Watch
As boys
Laugh
Forever
The audience,
While boys
Stand
On chicken
Wire stage
Dicks
Raised
Honoring
The brave.

Boys.
Never
afraid,
Beat.
Tap.
Exhale.
Slap.
Sing.
Bow.
Laugh.
Leave.
She screams.
Screams.
Screams.
Until
She is
Woman,
Anything
But silent.

Amanda Gayle Oliver is a Southern Belle by birth and a New Englander by heart. First published at sixteen, in the Birmingham News, her poetry and prose have also been published in the Boston Literary Magazine, Lamplighter Review, and for the Canadian Alzheimer's Association. Last year she had the honor of having her first play produced ("Stuck," September 2011), and her second play will be produced this Spring in the University of Alabama's Ten Minute Play Festival ("Elevator Play"). She also shares her personal story as a speaker in high school's, churches, and counseling classes. Her talks focus on healing from self-destructive behaviors such as self-mutilation and bulimia. She currently resides in the land of question marks swimming through them while wearing a cap that read Surrender.