Our modern world spins top speed

A world of swift, electric greed

A world that never goes to sleep

And sometimes, often, makes me weep

Imagine if this world would pause

To stop and savor; ooh and ah

Imagine time would just stand still

And let us linger as we will

I’d stop and smell each fragrant bud

And jump in each puddle of mud

I’d write and draw and sing aloud

And look for pictures in the clouds

I’d wonder at the frozen rain

And laugh, and laugh, and laugh again

I’d see the world with eyes anew

And give my time to those it’s due

I’d marvel in this moment caught

And give it all the time I ought

Imagine when time starts again

That we have learned a kind of zen

With our slow world we’ve made connection

And set aside time for reflection

They say it doesn’t matter

What other people see

That the only voice to listen to

Is the one inside of me

They say that I should love myself

No matter shape or size

And while that may be true, The World

Sees Me with different eyes

The friends I make, the jobs I take,

The many other things at stake

Force me to change the way I look

For other people’s sake

I stand before the mirror

Saying that I do not care

It shouldn’t matter what I do

With makeup or my hair

But still I know that certain doors

Will always close for me

If I look a certain way

Which option sets me Free?

The time, the money, effort spent

A burden men don’t have to bear

A burden so invisible

That most forget it’s there

What I’ve learned is that it is

A Paradox of Choice

To choose Myself or what I Want

And Look to please that voice

#feminism #poetry #feministpoetry #sexism #patriarchy #smashthepatriarchy #beautystandards #bodypositivity #makeup #beauty #freedom #glassceiling

I am often drawn to write about personal challenges or issues I face -- but struggle to do so in my usual format of writing: short stories or flash fiction. The reason being that I cannot come to a conclusion (an ending). If I had come to a conclusion myself, I wouldn't need to write about it. But if I leave my own problems to journals and write less personally in fiction, I think the quality suffers. Do you know what I mean? And if so, advice?

Rising, swelling, beating, roaring,

Drifting, humming, sounding, soaring,

Internal music always ringing

Listen close to hear its singing

In this song you’ll find your muse

You’ll see before you words to choose

Or paint a canvas full of sound

And feel ideas flow unbound

All from what you’ve found to be

Your choir of creativity

A hand on my shoulder and an excited whisper wakes me from a deep and drowsy sleep. I sit up, disoriented. Someone else’s couch has replaced my bed, and the woman who wakes me is not my mother.

“Come on, lovie dovie, get up! It happened!”

I am lifted from the warmth of my sleeping bag, brought first to the toilet, and then to the front door. I am bundled into my purple snowsuit and taken outside. The December air is biting, and the dark sky full of stars.

The car ride is just long enough that I’m almost asleep again by the time we get to the hospital. We go inside, and the harsh fluorescent lights make spots swim before my eyes. The hallway is long and grey. We stop at one of the identical doors and enter a room.

Here are parents. My dad is sitting in a chair and my mom is lying in a hospital bed. In her arms is a tiny, round, sleeping baby swaddled tightly in a cozy blue blanket. My new brother.

It takes two to tango

So dance with me

I promise: just one dance

And I will make you see

How our bodies fit together

Oh so perfectly

How we move across the floor

In synchronicity

Hand in hand we could

Escape reality

I know we only met

By serendipity

But take a chance and find out

What our love could be

Just take this dance

And I think that you will agree

This dance floor was designed

Simply for you and me

Meant to be

Dance with me

Injustice sows

The seeds of anger

Resentment

Fury

Only grows

Fuel to feed

Our words and deeds

To fight

To challenge

Status quo

In the heat of battles fought

Blood, tears, and words will freely flow

United voices

Speak together

Truth to power

We say no

Undead anger of years past

Informs our movement of today

It goes to show

How foes oppose

The force of anger

Though they know

The woes bestowed

On those below

Come from their own portfolio

And slowly anger

Will bestow

The change we need to undergo

With work and grit we sow the rows

And watch as our resistance grows

So speak the truth

And don’t suppose

Your anger has no place in prose

Yes All Women, Hashtag Me Too,

Time’s Up, It’s time to smash taboo

How interesting in this time would

It be to grow to womanhood

Learning, yes, but also fear

What terrifying tales to hear

Of what will happen as you grow

Maybe it’s better not to know

Or hear in talks from only mother

Instead of posts from unknown others

But looking from another way

When you meet the world one day

The stigma’s gone and you are free

To share your story openly

Find comfort that you’re not alone

And this just means that you are grown

#yesallwomen #metoo #timesup #sexualassault #feminism #poetry

They say it doesn’t matter

What other people see

That the only voice to listen to

Is the one inside of me

They say that I should love myself

No matter shape or size

And while that may be true, The World

Sees Me with different eyes

The friends I make, the jobs I take,

The many other things at stake

Force me to change the way I look

For other people’s sake

I stand before the mirror

Saying that I do not care

It shouldn’t matter what I do

With makeup or my hair

But still I know that certain doors

Will always close for me

If I look a certain way

Which option sets me Free?

The time, the money, effort spent

A burden men don’t have to bear

A burden so invisible

That most forget it’s there

What I’ve learned is that it is

A Paradox of Choice

To choose Myself or what I Want

And Look to please that voice

#sexism #patriarchy #feminism #poetry #feministpoetry #bodypositivity #fashion #makeup