after reading the book by the same title by Amanda Montell

these words, these words, these words
they call us:
hoe, tramp, whore, skank
bitch, witch, cow, heifer
hussy, slut

i have been learning
how they came about
what powerful weapons they became
to reduce women
to the non-human:
nasty, bossy
(for not being as sweet & docile
as we aught to be – for wanting power)

and the edible/sexual:
tart, tomato, crumpet,
sugar pie, cupcake
(firm on the outside, soft and juicy in the middle)

to the infantile:
baby, doll face, baby doll

to the infamous:
cunt
(Latin meaning wedge, taken from the Dutch
word kunte, giving it the dramatic final T
which makes it so much fun to say)

and the one that hits home for me,
hurls me right back to my college days,
the heartbreaking:
crazy, hysterical, loony, stark mad,
insane, batty, raving, unhinged,
deranged, disturbed, demented
(I could go on and on, there are so many!)

I wasn’t attracted to a dude in my
class & when he tried to force himself on me
(so typical, and not the first time for me)
I escaped his clutches, fled his apartment –

& he immediately began a smear campaign
calling me Zelda
(because I must be insane to not want him)
& the nickname stuck

all of this meant to keep us
in our place
keep us down

maybe if we begin to OWN
these words
throw them back into the dialogue
as a positive
then they will have no more meaning
this human need for labeling erased

when everyone
is non-binary & free!

in the meantime you can call me:
(best name I can think of for a writer)
wordslut

About the author:

Nicole Farmer has published two books of poetry, Wet Underbelly Wind (Finishing Line Press 2022) and Honest Sonnets (Kelsay Books 2023). Kelsay Books will publish her forthcoming chapbook, OPEN HEART, in 2025. Her poems have been published in Wisconsin Review, Suisun Valley Review, Apricity, Wild Roof Journal, Poetry South, and many other venues. Nicole was awarded the first prize in prose poetry from Bacopa Literary Review in 2020. She lives in Asheville, North Carolina. NicoleFarmerpoetry.com