Women Rising

In the end I see that
pleasing them for once

        and for all

had never even been

a remote possibility.

        For so long

I kept insisting to my

reflection that I had to

        get it right.

If you paint me as a

vessel and you pour

        me full of


patriarchy and shame,

I will look familiar.  I will

        distrust myself


and other women

who try to convince

        me to distrust


misogyny.  I will have

all kinds of guilt if I

        try to get


away.  I will be driven

to heed the voice that

        tells me


to discount myself.

This is how power is

        maintained for


generations.  Listening

to her own voice will

        often bring a


woman pain.  She has

known the pain of

        betrayal and


the pain of being called

names and the pain of

        being hit


and the pain of being

rejected and the pain

        of being just 


too damn much so 

you'd think that hearing

        herself would


be a piece of cake, no

cause for even one

        "Ouch."