The Body Poem Project: Toileting

Toileting

It isn’t polite to talk about how they are too busy to take time to use the toilet.

The executive who pees as fast as possible to save time and tighten her kegels.

The vice president who forgets to use the bathroom, but it’s OK as she also does not eat.

I have used many uncomfortable toilets and also done without them.

I have peed down the hillside and peed upon my skirts.

I have squatted over holes on cement platforms covered with feces beside the bus stop.

I have held my bladder to bursting through a bus ride across Kwa-Zulu-Natal.

Still, I know the pleasures of sitting down in a warm room to defecate.

When you can pee in the right place and afterwards wash your hands with pink soap.

I’m not asking for the toilet in the gold room at the top of the tower overlooking the ocean.

I just wish we could be done with the port-a-potties, at least in wintertime.

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