DEAL

by Margaret D. Stetz

Illustration: Nicola Jennings/The Guardian

that future wealth between her legs—
how much will you
snatch?
 
the territory of her arms—
where will you
amputate?
 
those children clutching at her breast—
will you drag them
away?
 
in the history of auctions
another shameful sale
you feel you own
and now will barter
with another Master
on his terms
 
this body
this Ukraine

Margaret D. Stetz is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Delaware, as well as a widely published poet. She is also a Ukrainian American, proud of her heritage.

THE OSCAR

by Margaret D. Stetz

…for the “Best Adapted
Life”
goes to the women of
my generation
we make up most
of the Academy
and won
though no one else would
vote for us
but learned at last
to write our own names
on the ballot
then turn up with a speech
for the acceptance
that we’ve never felt
of course the host
has withering jokes 
at our expense
but we don’t
slap him
we’ve always swallowed more
at work at home in bed
than pride
when all our names 
are called
we will not miss 
this moment
although our bladders fill like
Thanksgiving Day Parade
balloons
the trailing hems of gowns
catch heels and trip us
on the way to reach
the stage
where music has already 
played us off before
we even speak
the microphones the cameras
shutting down
we shout our thanks
for one another’s 
help and strength
into the emptying auditorium.
Our afterparty invitations
are for a future day
we don’t know when
but meanwhile
stand 
just stand
and keep our grip on something
golden.

Margaret D. Stetz, a lifelong feminist and a poet, is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware.

MY UKRAINIAN FAMILY

by Margaret D. Stetz

Sucking beer from bottles

shattering bottles in fists

punching drunk

strangling sober

seeing crucifixes as waste

of iron nails

better pried out and rammed into skulls

the Chernobility

of radioactive men—

torrents of blows

gales of curses

whipping winds

into a male-strom

pulverizing bodies

flattening weapons

sweeping clear

field city nation

Margaret D. Stetz, who is Ukrainian American, is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware. In the past year, her poems have appeared in journals such as Review Americana, Existere, Mono, A Plate of Pandemic, West Trestle Review, The Adriatic, and also in the Washington Post.