Denise Duhamel
Porn Poem

goldfish porn/applesauce porn/graphic pornographic traffic/

Bono porn/popcorn porn/forlorn porn/aura borealis porn/

orchid porn/grilled Portobello porn…pornography as social control, 

a way of saying publicly to every woman who walks down the street: 

avert your eyes…adorable bauble porn/discreet stinky feet porn/

spirit visitation porn…look down, bitch, because when you look up 

you’re going to see a picture of yourself being hung, 

you’re going to see your legs spread open…plastic water pistol porn/

porn extra dry with three olives/feather weight porn/

heating pad porn/blinking pink neon kink/

pigtail porn/horn of plenty porn/broken hearted porn…

pornography is not made up of old white men…nobody comes on them…

funny elbow porn/power walking porn/goiter porn/golfer porn/

restraining order porn/hearing aid porn/big house porn/

pimple blip porn/triple dip porn/blue chip porn/pink slip porn/

pornographic magic acts…constitutionally protecting porn 

as if it were free speech means that there is a new way 

in which we are legally chattel…porn born of Lesley Gore/

porn born of boredom/free range porn/Lorna Doone porn/

pornography bloopers/state trooper porn/handy fanny pack porn/

it’s-hard-to-speak-freely-with-a-cock-in-my-mouth porn/

stackable porn/knickknack porn/flag and banner porn  

 
Found In Volume 43, No. 04
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Denise Duhamel
About the Author

Denise Duhamel’s most recent book of poetry Blowout (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Ciricle Award and winner of a 2014 Paterson Poetry Prize.  Her other books include Ka-Ching! (Pittsburgh, 2009), Two and Two (Pittsburgh, 2005), and Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems (Pittsburgh, 2001).  The guest editor for The Best American Poetry 2013, she is a professor at Florida International University in Miami.