sitting in the boardroom   the i'm-so-bored room   listening to the suits   talk about their world   they can make straight lines   out of almost anything   except for the line   of my upper lip when it curls   dressed in my best greasy skin   and squinty eyes   i'm the only part of summer here   that made it inside   in the air-conditioned building   decorated with corporate flair   i wonder   can these boys smell me bleeding   though my underwear      there's men wearing the blood   of the women they love   there's white wearing the blood of the brown   but every woman learns to bleed from the womb   and we bleed to renew life   every time it's cut down   i got my vertebrae all stacked up   as high as they go   i but i still feel myself sliding   from the earth that i know   so i excuse myself and leave the room   say my period came early   but it's not a minute too soon      i go and find the only other woman on the floor   is the secretary sitting at the desk by the door   i ask her if she's got a tampon i could use   she says   oh honey, what a hassle for you   sure i do   you know i do   i say   it ain't no hassle, no, it ain't no mess   right now it's the only power   that i possess   these businessmen got the money   they got the instruments of death   but i can make life   i can make breath   sitting in the boardroom   the i'm-so-bored room   listening to the suits talk about their world   i didn't really have much to say   the whole time i was there   so i just left a big brown bloodstain   on their white chair