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 coporate 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 moon 
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