I am the woman your mother warned you about:
She and the other matriarchs exchanged recipes. Babies in arms, children tugging at their sleeves. High pitched squealing. The perfect detergent for spring cleaning.
I zoomed out.
Someone asked me something, I said ‘what?’ Then they exchanged glances.
– Isn’t the day hot, and could you beat the eggs?
– Sure, why not?
I beat the eggs and I was thinking the last time I did spring cleaning must have been summer because it was hot. Then someone came and brought me pot. That’s how I missed a spot on the window glasses.
I am the woman your mother warned you about:
When she told me ‘when you get pregnant,’ I said ‘I’m not taking any chances.’
‘Son, she’s cold. Chit-chat was like we spoke foreign languages. I have a feeling she’ll never bake a pie. She only paid attention when I showed her the tear-free way of onion peeling.’
‘What’s worse, son, is she doesn’t want kids. How selfish is this? When a woman loves a man, she wants to multiply.’
‘Lazy, uncaring, contemptuous of floral patterns – son, she’s not normal.’
Didn’t she say these things to you?
Listen to her, they are all true.
Weather and wax for hardwood flooring
– baby, these politics are boring.
Scaling and steaming lake trout
– not for me. I’ll dine out.
I’d rather read the half-truths of Karl Kraus
than spend my days in your house
with rubber gloves, scrubbing the cupboards
(vague displeasure in the suburbs.)
Brace yourself, here comes a shock:
I have no biological clock,
no desire to be your old lady
proud to be blessed with your baby.
I’m not normal; I confess:
can’t sacrifice myself, I guess,
to win a place in your heart
(from loveless sex to sexless love.)
Which also means, I don’t go ‘oh!’
over the squareness of your jaw
and never fall in purple patches
when I swallow your discharges.
Tie me down, then play dog?
Think again, you missed a spot:
don’t expect me to be loyal.
What can I say? I’m not normal.
I am the woman your mother warned you about,
the greatest enemy that prowls around.
Why don’t you find someone else to bother?
Run home now, to your mother.
Basilike Pappa can be found reading near a window or sitting in front of a computer in Greece. If she’s not there, I don’t know where she is. Her prose has appeared on Intrinsick and Timeless Tales, and her poetry on Rat’s Ass Review, Surreal Poetics, Bones Journal for Contemporary Haiku, Sonic Boom, Dodging the Rain and Visual Verse. To see more of her work, you can visit her blog Silent Hour – Poetry and Prose by Basilike Pappa
Heretics, Lovers, and Madmen 
Reblogged this on Brave & Reckless and commented:
Basilike Pappa is the Woman
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♥️
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Reblogged this on cabbagesandkings524 and commented:
Basilike Pappa – Your mother warned you and she was right.
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Thank you!
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You’re welcome
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I’m the man
my mother warned
everybody else about!
So I can truly relate
to this work
from such a wonderfully
disreputable poet.
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Wonderfully disreputable is officially my new black!
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The Man in Black 🖤
is back, and on track 🤠
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🙂
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Reblogged this on Silent Hour and commented:
Being the woman your mother warned you about, on Heretics, Lovers and Madmen. I have some sisters too you should watch out for.
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My older sister’s friends,
being veracious fiends,
made a meal out of me.
They were such curious
creatures,
I’m still post trauma therapy.
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So sorry to hear that. I hope they served you with a good sauce at least ☺️
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Never apologize for being a powerful fucking woman. (Damn, B!)
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And never apologize for not being normal. Thank you, B!
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Normal is so passé. As sb said, if we were smart, we would all go crazy.
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And yet so many hold on to the good old days and the good old values. No problem with that — i am not inviting them chez moi anyway. But the look in their eyes if you tell them you don’t want kids is so precious you want to press more
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I know.
Been there, seen it.
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I am not surprised, my dear!
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Basilike – what’s not to like…
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And what’s not to like about you always supporting me? Thank you!
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Marinated & Basted 🍗
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Sounds tasty!
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Amazing work, Basilike. You make the words dance.
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I was going for a little dance here — thank you!
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Dance you did. 🙂
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Great to know 🙂
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Ha! Love it!
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Thank you!
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