you tell me that women are no longer oppressed.
I ask about honour killings, about mutilation
about rape victims who are jailed and beaten
about silence and slavery.
you say you are talking about the west, about our world
but really you are talking about yours.
I wonder if your body has ever been anyone else’s property
if you know what it means to be powerless
or to kneel in the dark and pick up the buttons from your blouse.
you say that I hate men.
but I cannot explain anymore
that there is only one world
or that I love more than I should.
instead I will go to the sea
to touch again the level waters
which are older than men and women
which will not try to tell me that my people are free.
10 comments:
I especially like the last stanza... it's quite wonderful.
Powerful.
x
Profound and meaningful. Are you talking about the east? Just curious. Keep writing.
Ooh, I've got goosebumps. This is already one of my favourites of yours and so many people - women! - could relate.
I also realise I always have the most unintelligible and teen-y comment on your posts! Ah, I don't mind.
It creeps up on you and takes you unawares. You didn't realise the deep water you were in.
Thank you so much. It's more reaction than literature, but I'm glad you read it and liked it anyway.
Jena: I think the message of the poem is that we only have one world. It's not so much about any geographical place as it is about our inseparability from each other... if that makes sense?
Grace: You are not teeny or unintelligible at all! Your comments are very lovely and always welcome.
Who ever knows what literature is? Just write and see...
x
A different voice... interesting.
I love love love it. My favourite piece of writing of yours I've ever read.
Love Sx
A really good one!
A possible minor tweak? I did have to read this stanza twice:
you say you are talking about the west, about our world
but really you are talking about yours.
Are we talking East/West here? Or do you mean: when you talk about "our" world you mean "your" world? It just seemed a little ambivalent to me and I can't help feeling it would be punchier without the ambivalence.
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