by Suzanne Langlois
It’s mostly don’ts, really.
Even the dos are thinly veiled don’ts.
Do cross your legs at the ankles and no higher.
Do place your purse between your leg and that
of the boy sitting next to you on the couch.
Do cover your mouth when you laugh at his jokes.
Do laugh at his jokes, even if they are not funny,
even if they are at your expense.
If they are at your expense and not funny,
do realize that they are not jokes, but directions.
A few weeks before graduation, the president
of my college announced that all gender-based
courses would be discontinued at the start
of the next academic year.
Girls in Education, gone.
Women poets before 1900, gone.
Gender and Politics, gone.
He claimed gender was no longer relevant.
This was nineteen years before Roe was overturned.
A concurrent email read,
Women, do wear flats with your graduation robe.
The ground will be uneven.
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