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    Nothing Is Okay
    Nothing Is Okay
    Nothing Is Okay
    Ebook113 pages1 hour

    Nothing Is Okay

    By Rachel Wiley

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    2019 Ohioana Book Award - Readers' Choice Winner

    Nothing is Okay is the second full-length poetry collection by Rachel Wiley, whose work simultaneously deconstructs the lies that we were taught about our bodies and our beings, and builds new ways of viewing ourselves. As she delves into queerness, feminism, fatness, dating, and race, Wiley molds these topics into a punching critique of culture and a celebration of self. A fat positive activist, Wiley's work soars and challenges the bounds of bodies and hearts, and the ways we carry them.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherButton Poetry
    Release dateMar 12, 2020
    ISBN9781943735389
    Nothing Is Okay
    Author

    Rachel Wiley

    Rachel Wiley is a performer, poet, feminist, and fat positive activist from Columbus, Ohio. Rachel has represented Columbus at multiple National Poetry Slam Competitions and was a finalist twice in 2011. She is on staff at Writing Wrongs Poetry Slam and the co-host/co-founder of the Columbus Queer Open Mic. She has toured nationally performing at slam venues, colleges, and festivals. Her work has appeared on Upworthy, The Huffington Post, The Militant Baker, and Everyday Feminism.

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    4.5/5

    50 ratings2 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Rachel is so eloquent and passionate. I am a big woman, and she is the first poet who actually writes about the issues that we have, the way we are not allowed to love ourselves, make ourselves small, the frustration and anger at being judged just because our bodies aren't what other people think it should be. Reading her work and watching her perform has inspired me to have more self-confidence, to advocate more for myself, and to open up and write and speak about the issues I have. Rachel is #lifegoals <3
    • 5/5
      This collection is raw and gritty while still being poetic and beautiful without either style being overpowered by the other. There are so many norms, micro aggressions, and harmful self narratives that are unfortunately not always directly addressed even as body positive becomes more common place touched on so well without fear by the author. To the girl who feels she must collapse into herself in order to wedge into something worthy of love this collection is a pledge that you are not alone and existing as you are is not settling.

    Book preview

    Nothing Is Okay - Rachel Wiley

    Husband

    BUT THEY SAY I WILL NOT MAKE IT

    When you are fat (and I am fat) the streets are full of

    soothsayers

    telling you how you will die.

    They all seem so anxious for my heart

    like it’s an unattended package at the airport

      so I move thru the world listening

    for my heart like it must be a clock

      swallowed by a crocodile.

    No,

            a canary that goes silent much too late.

    No,

    they are certain it is going to attack, my heart,

    like a hungry bear on a camp ground

        ripping a zipper down my chest, cracking

      my sternum like a cheap tent pole.

    No,

        I am not at all sorry for my size

        so I must be a barge which would make my heart a fish

                      washed onto the deck

      GaspingFloppingSlamming scales off its body

        like an angry beauty queen ripping sequins from a dress

          that didn’t sparkle enough to win

        but then that would make my heart a beauty queen

    that can’t walk in heels …

    No,

      wait.

          My heart is an hourglass filled with gunpowder

        and at any given moment some wild spark

                    is gonna blow me sky high

      so, I don’t know, maybe this is why I love the way I do

        with teeth and swallow and song and snarl

                and water and sparkle and consequence

        maybe this is why I show up to your front door

                out of breath and full of dazzle

                      like this is the last ballyhoo

    and nothing at all can wait till the morning.

    Forgive me, they keep telling me that my heart is not my heart.

    They keep telling me that I am dying.

    This may be our last chance.

    REJECTION #1

    Dear MrTongueRing69,

    Thank you for your submission, however we were unable to read it as our office is not currently equipped with a way-back machine to travel to an era when your screen name was clever and probably somewhat alluring. I can only assume it read something like A/S/L? before launching into the screech-and-click dial-up-modem siren song of your people.

    Nonetheless, it is probably still safe to wish you well in finding a home for your cock.

    Kindest Regards,

    Nothing is Ok, Cupid Quarterly

    MIXED GIRL

    After Angel Nafis and Terrance Hayes

    Mixed Girl, White Mother

    Mixed Girl, Black Father

    Yes, really

    Mixed Girl, White Mother’s Hair

    Black Father’s Lips

    patient while you pick and choose

    what’s exotic enough

    sighs thru tired jokes about how she only gets half of

    Martin Luther King Day off work

    White Mother’s Guilt

    Black Father’s Survival

    Survivor’s Guilt

    Passing

    wonders if it’s called passing because something dies inside each time

    carries her blackness like Peter Pan’s shadow shot down and

    stitched desperately back to her heels

    Mixed Girl also Fat

    Yes, Fat

    Fat, Mixed Girl reconciled the word Fat

    passes slowly, a heavy drop of water

    passes race but not weight limits

    sighs thru tired jokes about black men loving fat white women

    living punchline

    Fat, Mixed Girl also Queer

    Yes, Really

    Queer, Fat, Mixed Girl’s pronouns are

    She/Her/Your Majesty

    femme

    triple threat invisible

    double agents as Straight Shameful White Lady

    sighs thru tired jokes about greed

    as sexual orientation

    admits to having mostly had relationships

    with cis-men

    no less attracted to women tho

    no less attracted to non-binary beauty tho

    probably thinks you’re cute

    probably wants to make out with you

    Yes, you

    Queer, Fat, Mixed Girl is a Feminist

    No shit.

    Yes, Feminist

    Feminist, Queer, Fat, Mixed Girl is full body intersection

    passing whiteness, passing straightness,

    passing weakness

    makes her a conceal carry revolt

    has one common enemy

    aims to gut the white supremacist patriarchy

    rouge her cheeks with his blood

    Feminist

    Queer

    Fat

    Mixed

    Girl

    knows he will

    never

    ever

    see her

    coming

    MY WHITENESS HITS ON ME IN A BAR

    You’re welcome.

    You hear me?

    I said you’re welcome

    for those eyes

    like your mother’s

    stolen sapphires

    when you could’ve had your father’s mud puddles.

    You’re welcome.

    They make you look so innocent

    so trusting.

    Don’t forget I got you that troubleless hair too

    The same hair that got you a good job

    or at least didn’t keep you from one.

    You really should be more grateful.

    Your

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