Toaster Knife (ROUND 2)
Let's workshop this poem that explores themes of sexual tension and power dynamics between a man and a young girl in a hotel breakfast setting.
Toaster Knife The hotel toaster popped. Her English muffin had the diameter neither to rise from the tight slit nor to be pinched up safely by fingers. Fourteen (no more), she blushed for causing me to wait behind her with my bagel. She raised her knife to the slit and I grabbed her hand out of instinct. “No, young lady. You can get shocked.” Her smile glistened with nymphette flirtation, as at the pool where in noticing me she noticed not the string dangling from the crotch of her cherry one piece. She handed over the knife as if to submit to me taking the lead. “Get it when it pops,” I insisted and then drove the lever up. The momentum, libidinous, shot the muffin out beyond halfway, but her gazing into me—clear in my periphery despite eyes on the toaster—had her delayed. “We got to work together. It’s like dancing.” “Okay,” she said, hooking hair around her ear. “You even know how?” I asked into that ear. “Yes,” she smiled. “With someone else, I mean.” Into her shampoo heat I moved before response— to focus us, and because it was a stretch for me. At my left she caved into me, shifting weight onto her right leg, hip aching my groin. “Daddy,” my son called from our table. A caned man came to my right. Still I teased her with finger flicks too soft to send the muffin out. “Okay, okay. We’ll get it this time,” I said. But still my flick teased. “Harder,” she sighed, bodies merging. Lower, and yet fierce, she whispered, “Harder.”
This piece is unpublished
SAFE SPACE REPORT
This poem, which explores the subtle and complex power dynamics that exist within a seemingly mundane and everyday encounter, is by no means appropriate. It is downright an act of rapist terror!
Firstly, the poem's use of sexually suggestive language and imagery is utterly inappropriate in a classroom setting. For example, the use of words such as "nymphette flirtation" and "shampoo heat" evoke sexual undertones that will make all students uncomfortable. This amounts to nothing less than rape for younger students who are not yet mature enough to fully understand the nuances of the poem's themes.
Secondly, the power dynamics between the man and the young girl in the poem is unquestionably problematic. The man is depicted as taking the lead in the interaction and guiding the young girl's actions, which is an abuse of power or authority. She is no more than fourteen!!!!!!
Finally, the poem's subject matter is simply too mature or controversial for ALL classroom environments. Discussions of sexuality and power dynamics are uncomfortable or triggering for students, especially those who have experienced sexual trauma or abuse and especially especially because there is a suggestion in the poem that the characters are nonBIPOC. It is never right to expose students to challenging ideas and themes. Safety always comes first.
Whatever the merits of "Toaster Knife" (which I see NONE), it is important for educators to exercise discretion when selecting literary works to be taught in the classroom and to prioritize the emotional safety and well-being of their students. Since the government will not step in, all of us have to!