Jeanann Verlee

JEANANN VERLEE is author of two books: Said the Manic to the Muse and Racing Hummingbirds, winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award Silver Medal in poetry. She has also been awarded the Third Coast Poetry Prize and the Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry. Her work appears in failbetter, Rattle, Adroit, and BuzzFeed, among others. Verlee wears polka dots and kisses Rottweilers. She believes in you. Find her at jeanannverlee.com.

Posts Written by Jeanann

glass pile
By Jeanann Verlee • 8 years ago

On Claiming Worth in Rape Culture

In a recent poem, I wrote about chewing glass. I don’t actually sit at the dinner table eating shards of glass. It’s a poem, it’s allowed to be grandiose.  But then, I do eat glass. As in, bite my tongue, suck back the words. Act polite. Internally swelling with fit and rage and regret. And I’m not alone. That’s what this is, living as woman. We get along to get along.

book of manners cover (crop)
By Jeanann Verlee • 9 years ago

Getting out of our own way: How much is too much?

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site.

One recent evening while taking the subway home, in the same week the reprehensible “slap her” video surfaced, I witnessed a minor but bothersome exchange between strangers. As two young women boarded, an older gentleman who had taken the only open seat at the previous stop, gestured to one, asking her to sit beside him in what was no more than scarcely a few inches of space.

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site.

One recent evening while taking the subway home, in the same week the reprehensible “slap her” video surfaced, I witnessed a minor but bothersome exchange ...