The Sun and Her Flowers (15 page)

it isn't blood that makes you my sister

it's how you understand my heart

as though you carry it

in your body

what is the greatest lesson a woman should learn

that since day one

she's already had everything she needs within herself

it's the world that convinced her she did not

they convinced me

i only had a few good years left

before i was replaced by a girl younger than me

as though men yield power with age

but women grow into irrelevance

they can keep their lies

for i have just gotten started

i feel as though i just left the womb

my twenties are the warm-up

for what i'm really about to do

wait till you see me in my thirties

now that will be a proper introduction

to the nasty. wild. woman in me.

how can i leave before the party's started

rehearsals begin at forty

i ripen with age

i do not come with an expiration date

and now

for the main event

curtains up at fifty

let's begin the show

-
timeless

to heal

you have to

get to the root

of the wound

and kiss it all the way up

they threw us in a pit to end each other

so they wouldn't have to

starved us of space so long

we had to eat each other up to stay alive

look up look up look up

to catch them looking down at us

how can we compete with each other

when the real monster is too big

to take down alone

when my daughter is living in my belly

i will speak to her like

she's already changed the world

she will walk out of me on a red carpet

fully equipped with the knowledge

that she's capable of

anything she sets her mind to

(ode to raymond douillet's
a short tour and farewell)

 

 

 

now

is not the time

to be quiet

or make room for you

when we have had no room at all

now

is our time

to be mouthy

get as loud as we need

to be heard

representation

is vital

otherwise the butterfly

surrounded by a group of moths

unable to see itself

will keep trying to become the moth

-
representation

take the compliment

do not shy away from

another thing that belongs to you

our work should equip

the next generation of women

to outdo us in every field

this is the legacy we'll leave behind

-
progress

the road to changing the world

is never-ending

-
pace yourself

the necessity to protect you overcame me

i love you too much

to remain quiet as you weep

watch me rise to kiss the poison out of you

i will resist the temptation

of my tired feet

and keep marching

with tomorrow in one hand

and a fist in the other

i will carry you to freedom

-
love letter to the world

have your eyes ever fallen upon a beast like me

i have the spine of a mulberry tree

the neck of a sunflower

sometimes i am the desert

at times the rain forest

but always the wild

my belly brims over the waistband of my pants

each strand of hair frizzing out like a lifeline

it took a long time to become

such a sweet rebellion

back then i refused to water my roots

till i realized

if i am the only one

who can be the wilderness

then let me be the wilderness

the tree trunk cannot become the branch

the jungle cannot become the garden

so why should i

-
it is so full here in myself

many try

but cannot tell the difference

between a marigold and my skin

both of them are an orange sun

blinding the ones who have not learned to love the light