‘If I Were a Lizard’
— Hannah Cohen
A compact poem with prose-like composition and immediacy, ‘If I Were a Lizard’ is near-humorous but reflective in its hypothetical observations about protest marches, Sylvia Plath, and nipples. Thankfully, the poem is far from being quirky for the sake of shock value or gaining attention. With the unique opening of “If I were a lizard I would not be a feminist”, it makes one initially scramble to think of a logical explanation for the poem’s strange metaphor. But I believe that’s the point: to realize this backwards and illogical way of thinking about the female body, and how maybe “we’re the ones who are behind”.