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The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed: How to Cut a Woman in Half by Janis Harrington

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This selection, chosen by Managing Editor Krista Cox, is from How to Cut a Woman in Half by Janis Harrington (Able Muse Press 2022).

On Strike

Remember, Annie, when Miss Jones shamed you
for wet pants and you boycotted school.
Every morning, book bag on your shoulder,
you kissed Mom, left with us, ducked into the shed,
hid with rakes and shovels, a stray cat for company.
We reported you sick. Jacket and mittens on,
you traced upper- and lowercase letters,
sounded out the words of easy readers,
your breath frosted white, finally
opened your lunchbox when you thought it was noon
(no milk or recess). You watched for our return
and joined us, red-cheeked, truant, proud.
Be yourself at six, defiant, determined—
grief is a bully. Fight back. Don’t give in.

Janis Harrington is the author of How to Cut a Woman in Half (Able Muse Press, 2022), a Finalist for the Able Muse Book Award. Her first collection, Waiting for the Hurricane, was awarded the Lena Shull Book Award by the North Carolina Poetry Society. A Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee, she won the 2023 James Applewhite Poetry Contest. Her work has appeared in Tar River Poetry, Journal of the American Medical Association, North Carolina Literary Review and elsewhere. She lives in North Carolina where she co-hosts a monthly reading series for a local independent bookstore.

Krista Cox is Managing Editor of The Wardrobe, Doubleback Review, and Sundress Publications. She is growing her hair out again and reclaiming her childhood dreams.


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