For a friend (or two)(or three)
Even strong women break /
fall apart in parking lots
our lives upside down / wheels spinning
Curse our way through or sleep it out / drink it out, consume it
Find the weight so unbearable /
our hearts just stop
Sure, we can be both / strong and broken
capable and crying / put together
and a total fucking mess
all
at
the
same
time
Never underestimate
the power in that /
the force it takes
to hold ourselves up
while balancing the
world
IT BEARS REPEATING
The upcoming series of blog posts is in honor of ALL the women who can, who do, and who keep on doing – who persist – no matter what. They are part of “You Mean A Woman Can Open It,” MANIFEST (zine) #14.
All text and poems ©2026, Jen Payne
Bear artwork by Sohni Ali, website
IMAGE and TEXT CREDITS FOR THE SERIES:
- You Mean A Woman Can Open It? 1953 Alcoa Aluminum advertisement.
- Well, my boy, let’s get started, from “For me, the perfect hostess is the lady with the whip,” German Artist’s Book, 1960s.
- Best Loved Nursery Rhymes Picture Book, circa 1950s.
- Photos of Ryan Zinke from “Interior Secretary Orders Protester To ‘Be Nice’ During Visit To Bears Ears,” Huffington Post, May 2017.
- Family group on a grave marker from Athens, National Archaeological Museum, Athens
- “An American Girl in Italy,” (Ninalee Craig) by Ruth Orkin, 1951.
- Mess of Fish, Paul Klee
- The coat-stand (Porte manteau), by Man Ray, 1920.
- Calliope, Augustin Pajou, 1763.
- Vogue sewing pattern, 1980s.
- “The history of the pussy bow blouse,” Bethany Armitage, CraftWorld, March 2019.
- Atlas Was a Woman, by Céline (Melle-T), Deviant Art, 2007.
- From the collection of Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) a German-Austrian psychiatrist + early sexologist, 1886.
- “Nevertheless, she persisted” – an expression adopted by feminists, especially in the U.S. after the Senate voted to require Senator Elizabeth Warren to stop speaking during the confirmation of Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General.
