Viral Video: Woman On All Fours
She backs her naked ass up
to the broken hydrant’s spray, Market Street.
A black bra rolled over her tits.
Slaps soft soap on her thighs, rubs up and down,
then pump, pump, slap, rub and repeat.
She’s all business.
I think, If she needs to get a john’s stench off,
can’t get a more powerful spray.
She twists sideways and lifts one leg,
water shooting into her crotch.
I put the 26-second clip on repeat.
Wonder how many times others said,
She’s only good
for getting down and doing it.
When I was young, I often wondered
if I’d end up a whore.
Especially after I found out
I’d never get pregnant.
Eighteen and I hadn’t tasted the world.
I wanted everything inside me.
My doctor said, If you and your partner
are patient, have regular sex for a year,
you’ll get a functioning vagina.
I wasn’t patient.
I didn’t want love or marriage.
I went far and wide searching for men.
The guy from Sweden, inching
off the bed, dragging his sweats up said,
Now I can say I’ve slept with a freak.
The guy from Holland just wanted to hurt;
another guy moaned, We’ll never work:
you can’t have my baby.
Breeder hips, some guys said I had.
Then a wink and a little slap on my tush.
You’re not pretty, but your backside
makes it worth it.
After each break-up I’d clean house.
Grab a bucket of Pine-Sol and get down
on all fours and scrub:
bathroom, kitchen, the parquet entryway.
My butt in the air liked I owned this pose.
In the shower I’d breathe out,
finally alone with my body, learning
to love the strange animal it is.
Under a Men at Work sign
she is cleaning her body.
Smeary headlights roll past her.
She’s only good for getting down and doing it.
Whore.
Let them sneer.
Let them all gawk.
Kate Peper’s chapbook, Dipped In Black Water, won the New Women’s Voices Award from Finishing Line Press. Her poems have been nominated five times for a Pushcart and have appeared in Cimarron Review, Gargoyle, Green Hills Lantern Review, Rattle, Tar River Review, and elsewhere. Also a watercolor painter, her artwork has appeared in The Adroit Journal, phoebe, and Nostos. For more information, visit: www.peperpoetry.com.
