I wish I could explain sometimes
How it feels to be a woman:
To be desperately seeking to be desired
Yet still preferring to be ignored,
To walk down the street
Head lowered, heart pounding:
Brave enough to invite the danger
But not daring to open the door,
Holding fast to your emotions
Keeping them in check
Lest you invite the label
Of bitch or whore…
Not knowing how to respond
To the ceaseless command
To “smile” for strangers
And obey the misogynistic law,
Grasping from birth
How to be subdued
How to submit, to succumb
To nature’s luck of the draw,
Bolstered by the fable
Of female empowerment
That becomes a casualty
In that internal war,
Going through the motions
Of impersonating a human being
While feeling so
Fragmented; so raw…
Then to finally let go of your fears
And unravel your being
Only to open yourself
To the demons lurking in store,
To trust, so explicitly
Only to find yourself
Crushed, pummelled
Beneath the predatorial paw,
To logic yourself
Into accepting less
While knowing you deserve
So much more,
To love
With your everything
To hang all your hopes on the soul of a man
And wonder what you’re doing it all for…
Or, simply put: to feel
Ultimately, justifiably
Unsafe
At your core.
