Nothing to worry about
The text message burns brown-
black scorch marks into the screen
My eyelashes are like windshield
wipers, throwing ugly teardrops
right and then left and then right
again
send me a pic w ur top off
I am scared to say no and i’m
scared to say yes to this boy who
I didn’t even realize knew my name
ew no
I don’t know why he told everyone
that I sent that picture, and what
I struggle with most is
Why did everyone believe him?
On a September night in 1922, Amelia “Mollie” Maggia’s jugular vein spontaneously ruptured. She hemorrhaged and died within minutes. After two years of lip-pointing at the United States Radium Corporation, Mollie’s teeth started to rot. Then, the holes where the teeth used to be started to rot. Then, the holes on top of the holes started to rot, eating entirely through the bone. This condition is now informally known as “radium jaw.” The girls at the factory are still being told that there is nothing to worry about.
My face is stiff like a white sheet
that has been pulled taut and is
nearly ripped apart in some places
hot salty tears, cold sad tears
a nighttime life’s worth of tears
so many tears that my bones are dry and
everything is dry and nothing
is left except the psychiatrist
perched on his swivel stool
“Ah, I see,
you say you have a baby
at home? Just postpartum
depression. You can go home.”
It took Grace Flyer two years to find a lawyer willing to represent her. In 1927, Grace was one of five plaintiffs in the landmark case, Fryer v. United States Radium Company. Unlike other women from the factory, Grace did not immediately die from radium poisoning. Instead, Grace suffered from long-term systemic damage that left her in excruciating, inescapable pain. She suffered from severe spinal deterioration, chronic bone pain, and progressive skeletal degeneration. Grace lived to be 84 years old. The company never admitted to any moral wrongdoing.
My husband didn’t remember
the oranges for my son’s
baseball game, the ones I asked for
thrice, the ones that all the other moms
were able to bring to their son’s
games, with frilly ribboned bows
and personalized snack bags and
all I wanted was to show that
I belong here, too.
cold sad dejected tears, hot angry tears
that pour down my face and it’s thick
like boiling blood, my husband draws close
to give me a hug
“Why don’t you take a Xanax,
you're acting so cranky.”
“I was let go from the Radium Dial Company because my limping was causing much talk," says Catherine Donohue years before she testified from her own home. After losing half her body weight and many sections of her jaw, the judge moved proceedings to Catherine’s home where she testified from her bed. Catherine died two months later. The company continues to claim that the workers cannot definitively prove radium exposure is related to their symptoms.
Why did everyone believe him?
You girls have nothing to worry about.
You’re not sick,
it’s just your hormones.
We would never do anything to put you in harm’s way.
I can’t take you seriously
when you are being so
emotional
It would be easier for everyone
if you would just be quiet
There’s
nothing to worry about
anyway.