the GENDER issue / POETRY
"Females"
by LeConté Dill
Image: "Something Borrowed, Something Blu," by Varnette P. Honeywood
Daddy has three daughters
Still calls women “females”
As in
“Females is crazy”
“But not you all,”
he assures
But perhaps our Mamas
I presume
Daddy has three sisters
One got left in Germany after the second world war
One ran to Texas, then to church, then to a closet
One mourns her husband, calls her Junior son Senior sometimes
Daddy thinks these “females”
is crazy
But they got his same eyes
from their daddy’s side
Who also said
“Females is crazy”
Cuz his wife aimed at his chest with sharp scissors
Cuz his mama died when he was at his other baby mama’s house
Cuz his son got served with child support
It’s these “females” who raised me
And who go find Daddy
When he missin
When he miss out
When he missed
LeConté Dill was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles and is currently creating a homeplace in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. She holds degrees from Spelman College, UCLA, and UC Berkeley, has participated in VONA Voices and Cave Canem workshops, and was a 2016 Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop Fellow. LeConté's work has been published in a diverse array of spaces, such as Poetry Magazine, Mom Egg Review, The Killens Review of Arts & Letters, Journal of Poetry Therapy, and The Feminist Wire. She is a scholar, educator, and a poet in and out of classroom and community spaces, and is currently the Director of Public Health Practice and a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU.