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      July 14, 2019I Found MyselfSamantha DeFlitch

      In the pink line
      of hair running
      back from proud
      Rapinoe’s face
      as she made herself
      a very wide set
      of arms. Very gay,
      I thought, but I
      am skirting edges
      of my small TV,
      fingers pressed
      tight at my sides.
      What is the opposite
      of out? Is it
      dark brown hair
      plastered against
      my forehead,
      or my shoulders
      hunched over a
      single-serving
      microwave dinner?
      It’s deep summer
      but I am closed
      off inside a one-
      bedroom apartment.
      Some nights I look for
      another woman
      beside me in the sheets.
      Some nights I become
      a long, pale pair of
      arms, stretched wide
      like my open mouth.
      Tonight, I am a girl-child
      peeling shin guards
      off my damp legs,
      unalone, wild,
      seeking once-joy
      of my cleats on
      packed earth.

      from Poets Respond

      Samantha DeFlitch

      “As with so many Americans, watching the USWST play has been incredibly powerful—especially as a woman who sees herself in Megan Rapinoe. The thing that strikes me the most about about her is her willingness to ‘be big’—so many women are encouraged to make themselves and their accomplishments small, but she purposefully takes up space. The image of her arms spread wide, face held high is something that will sit with me for a long time.”

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