July 6, 2016
Congratulations to Stefanie Freele, our “Whidbey Writes” featured writer for July. We’re pleased to be able to share her poem, “Listen, Boy Of Belligerence,” with you.
The purpose of “Whidbey Writes” is to encourage writers with a Whidbey connection to submit short fiction and poetry for publication in Whidbey Life Magazine, thereby giving our readers an opportunity to enjoy these creative writings. Throughout 2015 and the beginning of 2016, Whidbey Writes has published monthly selections of short fiction and poetry online. The most popular of these entries were also published in the Fall/Winter 2015 and Spring/Summer 2016 print editions of Whidbey Life Magazine.
We publish the original work of selected winners at the beginning of each month as part of Whidbey Writes. Thanks to volunteer editors Heather Anderson, Mureall Hebert and Chris Spencer, who review submissions throughout the year and pass on the work they enjoy most to Whidbey Life Magazine for publication online and in print.
To find out more about Whidbey Writes and the submission criteria, visit the Whidbey Writes Submission page. To see previously selected writings, visit the Whidbey Writes page here.
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Listen, Boy Of Belligerence
By Stefanie Freele
Those words will stay forever. You don’t see them
stretched across an elderly forearm
interrupted by Coumadin bruises and scars
caused by decades of hard work
You see wisdom, displayed along your limb
and clear glass rightness, to remind you
rules can kiss your all-knowing ass.
Here you stand, fancying rape-filled anarchy,
enlightened, believing in the anti-government
lawlessness, disorder, confusion
and hatred. Crime is meaningless to you.
A regular devotee of Bad
where public attention equals praise.
Notice, no one congratulates you
on your choice of noun to assault
the unsuspecting gazer or
studiers of sub-human oddities
who make a point of proving their theories
by searching for people like you, rule-breakers,
the beings who refuse absorption
while the remainder of vine-covered
butterfly-dotted, serpent-raveled
bodies agree with a tat, they too
stand aside, leaving you to embrace your words.
Stefanie Freele is the author of two short story collections, “Feeding Strays,” with Lost Horse Press and “Surrounded by Water,” with Press 53. Stefanie’s published and forthcoming work can be found in Witness, Glimmer Train, Mid-American Review, Chattahoochee Review. She is a graduate of NILA.
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