This

is not

a ‘resting bitch face’.

 

This

is the face

of a woman who has done a full day’s work.

She’s tired, doesn’t need your little smirks

or daft asides so just be quiet.

After work, she fetched food, made tea,

washed up, watched TV, fell asleep.

Her electricity is steep. 

She’s back to Sunday baths,

one day a week to keep clean

with a strip wash in between.

Life is hard and she’s depressed, so you’d best

keep your comments to yourself.

 

This is not a ‘resting bitch face’.

 

This

is the face

of a woman at repose.

The daily woes behind her, she’s reading or relaxing

with a coffee, beer or wine. Keeps herself to herself

and yet she has to be remarked upon,

“Hey love! It might never happen.

You look pretty when you smile.

Are you a lesbian?”

An immobile face attracts the wrong attention.

Where there was peace, now exists a tension

taut with having to become some kind of clown,

not allowed to just relax.  She must perform. 

 

This is not a ‘resting bitch face’.

 

This

is the face

of a woman on her knees.

She’s a single mum, got a job, put the kids in nursery;

can barely still afford to pay the bills.

When they’re ill, she has to beg the boss for time off.

They dock her pay so she can’t afford to feed herself today.

She’s on the bus, and someone says she’s got a sour puss,

a “resting bitch face”, they say, which never helps.

This is the comment that will take her to the edge,

knowing that she’s always under siege.

 

This is not a ‘resting bitch face’.

 

This

is the face

of a woman with a reason to be riled.

Keep your self-styled ‘comedy’ behind your lairy teeth.

Consider that there isn’t an alternative, a parallel,

comparative to men. When they’re at rest,

no one takes a pot shot at their face,

breaks their reverie for simply sitting peacefully.

There are no shouts of "bastard face", "ugly mug"

or otherwise, so why is it okay to do to us?

 

It’s just a face. Get fucked

with your gender-based oppression.

The lesson endeth here.

Wind your neck in.

It’s just a woman’s face.