Poetry

Filthy Poems: “CW (Content Warning)”

Why hello there, dearest Filthy Dreams readers! What’s that? What’s this? It’s yet another perhaps ill-advised foray into other writing styles. Like my Filthy Fictions from 2014, I was inspired–this time by the proliferation of content warnings on social media. While trigger warnings began with more understandable notifications about sexual assault or pedophilia, they’ve now ballooned into things like “real teeth” and “scissors.” So fascinated by this trauma free-for-all and what it’s done to language, I decided to make a list of some actual Interwebz content warnings (yes, they are all real) and cut it up into a poem. So grab yourself a Bloody Mary (or three) and get to being warned:

CW (Content Warning)
 
CW: needles, chalk,
anatomically correct words,
domestic abuse (emotional), skulls,
trypophobia, overdose (accidental),
drug use (mentioned), murder,
childbirth, death/dying, cis relationships,
binary gender, jumpscares,
slimy things, forced captivity,
insects, drug use (intravenous),
large area of bare skin, homophobia,
warfare, food, terminal illness,
smoking, gore, mushrooms
snakes, vomit, chest skin,
foreskin shaming, stalking,
eating disorder (bulimia), bullying,
mild flashing, real teeth, medical procedures,
drinking (heavy), PTSD, scarification,
skeletons, swearing, pregnancy,
forced socialization, sexual assault,
domestic abuse (verbal), ageism,
body horror, scissors, weapons,
fatphobia, ableism, drug use (prescription),
furries, dental trauma,
incest, meat, small textures,
drug use shaming, hospitalization,
overdose (intentional), hunting, classism,
sole of feet, sexism,
chain restaurant mention, glue,
racism, misgendering,
direct eye contact, marriage,
possible eye strain, trigger

One thought on “Filthy Poems: “CW (Content Warning)”

  1. Content warnings are an interesting subject. Some people are more sensitive to the above items than others. I remember several years ago there was a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition in Wellington NZ (near where I live) I would never even have known about it if there hadn’t been protests about some controversial subject-matter. I ended up going and loved his work, he was very gifted as a photographer. Because of the protests the event was crowded.
    I write more traditional poems myself, an art form that seems to be getting lost these days.

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