Synkroniciti is thrilled to welcome back poet, writer and playwright Jennifer Maloney from New York state with a powerful prose poem, “Appropriate,” one of our “Recovery” poetry finalists. Jennifer explores the way society conditions girls to experience shame and lack of autonomy.
“When I say skirt, learn silence, when I say neckline, learn strangle. Words mean other words, and no one’s told you what; hurry up and figure it out. A boy says hot, understand want, the teacher says now, understand yesterday. Understand that you’re already too late.”
From “purity” culture to elements of the school dress code, girls are often treated as if they are perishable goods rather than human beings. When talking about female sexuality or speaking up about unwanted touching, harassment or even rape are considered immodest, girls are silenced and shamed when they need to be honest and safe. Jennifer encourages girls to feel empowered and recover their sense of self.
“A day comes when you slip the shiny language of refusal into your bag. There’s a little heft to it, but you can carry it. Rummage for a pen, your wallet, a book—there’s your own secret code, glimmering in its depths.”
By taking us into her confidence, exposing the subliminal code we have all been fed (women and men alike), and being fearlessly vulnerable, she calls on us to create a world where women are believed and supported and predators, rapists and creeps don’t get a pass. Her voice is warm, dramatic and full of hope.
Read “Appropriate” in Synkroniciti’s “Recovery” issue, available for purchase here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Jennifer Maloney writes poetry, plays and short fiction. Find her work in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Litro Magazine, Literally Stories and Synkroniciti. Jennifer is the author of the hybrid chapbook Evidence of Fire, Poems & Stories (Clare Songbirds Publishing, 2023), and the full-length hybrid collection Don’t Let God Know You are Singing (Before Your Quiet Eyes Publishing, 2024), and she is grateful, for all of it, every day.