Femme Fatales
Women’s History Month 2022 Poem
of all the deprivations associated with living in prison
none fills the emptiness of the absence of women
this is sleep without dreams
years devoid of spring
or a playground with no swing
...I'm not exaggerating
without our mothers
we are pride at a party for rage
without our sisters
we are secrets paining for escape
without our ladies
we are talent grasping for a stage
without our daughters
we are moments wishing for memories
...that never were
and yet we read it
and hear it
and see it
because we write it
we scream it
we stream it
all the trafficking
the raping
the beating
treating them like cows
like sheep
like hens
in a pasture for the pleasure
of all the cocks, bulls, and rams
...just tell me why
why do we starve them
deceive them
then breed them
...tell me why
why we divorce every Angela's brilliance
before we marry her movement
why we leave every Angelina on a curb full of kids
and won't even take the philanthropy with us
and why we lust for the bends in every Kim's curves
but don't assist her mission in breaking the system
this isn't fiction
or superstition
or myth
this is the flipside
of Susan B. and Mary Bethune's darkest fears;
us using the veil of freedom to strangle the breath
from every ideal they ever believed in
and I'm calling us all out, myself included
because I'm guilty of it too
guilty of being a roué; rotating replacements
guilty of hormones jumping impiously on the daily
guilty of letting our culture backhand an entire generation
of beauty
resilience
and resistance
the Cardis
the Megans
the Lattos
ain't wrong for birthing a hyper-femininity
in contravention for treating them rotten
for the defiance mocking a superiority complex
raised by testosterone's perverse adoptions
for using what we lust for the most
to bust us harder than we ever did them
either literally or figuratively
you go, girls
the last few millennia were contralto;
suppose you're due a soprano
suppose the ladders of success have ceased
from climbing between men's knees
suppose stereotypes are being cooked, cleaned, and happily tossed
by stay-at-home dads
suppose that the only reason we haven't had a female president yet
is because another nation's masculinity was rubbed the wrong way by it
----pun intended
and suppose it's time for you,
every single one of you,
of the not only fairer, but more beautiful, more intelligent, more patient, more understanding, more reasonable, more graceful, more sensitive, more attractive, more caring, and more loving of the two sexes
to realize Mona Lisa did not have to look like Aphrodite
for her value to soar
the only guys Harriet Tubman needed
were the ones to follow her to freedom
and Joan of Arc required only her mind
to lead an army of men through a war
history's laced with your brilliance
your bravery
your achievements
before any man anywhere displays an arrogant entitlement
allegedly afforded to him by gender as a metaphor to destroy you
remember
you make us
raise us
and save us
you teach us
keep us
and above all
you complete us
and remember,
it lies in you all
in perpetual crouch
waiting to pounce
your femme fatale