IDEAS BRAVELY EXPRESSED IN JENNICA HARPER’S POETRY

What It Feels Like for a Girl - Jennica Harper
Anvil Press, 2008
Review by: Alicia Costa

Jennica Harper’s What It Feels Like for a Girl is a book length poem that takes us through the teenage life of a 13-year-old girl. The poem navigates the reader through the friendship between two girls as they stumble their way through the confusing world of puberty, sex, pornography and popular culture.

The story is written from a parallel perspective, the one side being the narrator’s thoughts and the other an event at a school dance where her best friend Angel does a sexually provocative dance. Angel the character is presented as a wild and outgoing spirit portrayed as a teacher of everything grown up. There is an obvious deep respect and love between the two which is fostered over several events.

Several themes emerge through the poem that add depth and to the reader’s ability to relate to the characters.  Harper doesn’t shy away from talking about those moments in all of our teenage years that were uncomfortable, yet necessary. She explores what it feels like for a girl to go through puberty and experience the changes in her body.

“It’s a strange time to be a girl. You observe them all around you; wearing bras, A to C. Shaving legs, arms, bikini. They need. They bleed. They’ve heard it all already.” (Harper, 15).

I felt personally connected to many of the themes in the poem because they reflected experiences I went through as a teenage girl. Many of which went largely ignored by teachers and parents. One of these experiences was the effect mainstream magazines had in developing body image. 

“In the rooms of your world you check everything, find the most boring secrets ever known to man. And: magazines. Orange- pink, blurs of bodies. Naked monsters. Tits and cheeks and thighs. Bodies are hidden everywhere, waiting to be cracked open, spines bent, unbound.” (Harper, 24).

NOT SHY ABOUT SEXUAL DISCOVERY STORIES

A large part of the poem is a journey of sexual discovery between Angel and the narrator. Harper doesn’t shy away from describing a sexual attachment and attraction that develops between the two girls.

“Instead of a man, the first to touch you is Angel. Indian Summer, a Sunday. A  cabin. A lake. Your swimsuit. A back rub. Wet Lycra peeling.  Skin soft around the sides. A graze. A cradle. Soft. And hard. A cup, a cup” (Harper, 42).

A parallel between Madonna the pop icon and Madonna the virgin is also woven through the poem.  The title of the poem itself, What It Feels Like for a Girl is taken from a Madonna song off her 2000 album, Music.

This virgin/ whore dichotomy is beautifully integrated throughout the story line as the narrator struggles to determine where she fits within the spectrum.

In an interview with Vue Weekly in November of 2008 Harper spoke openly about how she felt about the mixture of truth and fiction in the story.

“There are a lot of ways in which things are true and not true, the same way things can be good and not good at the same time,” Harper explained.

“Thirteen is both young and old, and pornography is both arousing and scary. I would never write something that was an indictment of porn. I don’t think many things are black and white.”

I really enjoyed this poem because it was easy to relate to. I went through so many of those same experiences and feelings in my young teenage years and felt that they were validated through this piece. Harper’s bravery to share her experience is admirable and it is reflected in the quality of the writing.

Alicia Costa, originally from Kelowna B.C., currently resides in East Vancouver. Graduating from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies in 2008, she is currently in Langara College’s Journalism Certificate program. She hopes someday to break into daily news writing and radio.