Pop Quiz

by Cathryn Cofell

Because a woman is told her opinions are a) atomic bombs; b) a leprosy;
c) a gaggle of shitting geese:

this one wore hers like an inner tube, like 3 inch heels, like red/red lipstick.
His response was:

1. burrito embrace
2. speedy departure
3. unprotected sex

Because a woman tries to change how others perceive her,
she eventually knows only a) catcalls; b) fist; c) her own voice.

She learns she can best be satire, wonders why others are preoccupied
with joy when it is always followed or preceded by a hangover,
doctor, wailing sorrow.

Once, when she dared joy:

1. she broke her credit rating
2. she broke her wrist
3. he broke her rib

so she became a) thumbtack; b) remote control, c) rodeo clown. Or d) none
of the above, a hermit crab in reverse, moving into smaller and smaller:
bedroom shell to bathroom to broom closet to bread box.

She eyes the ant trap next, believes it has everything she needs for

1. colony
2. pandemic
3. escape

She wonders if anyone has been born without a heart or a body,
how any woman can survive without more than one choice.

Cathryn Cofell is the author of six chapbooks and two full-length collections,
including Stick Figure with Skirt, winner of the Main Street Rag Poetry Book
Award. She’s been published 300+ times and earned over 50 awards, including
the Lorine Niedecker Poetry Award, the Mill Prize, and the Christopher Lathom
Sholes Award for mentoring other poets. She is Appleton’s first Poet Laureate,
co-coordinator of Poetry Unlocked, and the Immediate Past President of the
Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. www.cathryncofell.com