I AM WOMAN

Struck day by day with an onslaught

Of slurs,

Walking these streets forever reciting that poem;

No sir, no sir.

My rejection has you out for blood

And you drag my gender through the mud.

Like the ocean sands damp and brown,

Your words are there to hold me down,

Pushing me under, hoping I drown.

Negative jibes forever flung,

It’s so easy for them to roll off that always ready tongue.

Tangling with words meant to leave me black and blue,

A forever boxing match with you.

Woman—never enough to please,

You push me down on bended knees.

Rifle cocked, red hot,

My mind ready to be shot.

The expressiveness of my intelligence

Has felt nothing but your belligerence.

This woman you see is strong.

It worries you that I sing my own song.

It worries you that your hurt won’t hold,

As you are met with an armor lined with gold.

This woman is her own.

She has strength and vigor in every bone.

You will not leave me barren and gray,

With your constant rubbing of hatred meant to fray.

Your ferocious storm of words

Are ones I must afford.

A tyrant’s only sword

It cannot touch me though,

Because every blow

Shall only brush up against my skin--

My armor that is not thin.

Destined to be inked by every scorn,

You cannot break away this armor worn.

For my voice will bear the prickle from every thorn,

Holding its own color,

Coming even more alive rather than duller.

My voice will bear every strength

From your blackened heart, it will not be drenched.

Marked by the world--Yes,

Beaten ‘till I bleed violet.

You cannot smear my soul,

For a wonderful story will be told

Through these scars,

An epitome of my many wars.

Your failure to see me,

Your refusal

To catch a glimpse of my WOMAN.

Infinite power is what it summons,

Pure as silver

Formidable in its force, your bones will quiver.

For I am a bullet,

Ready to take up every gauntlet

Weighed by my own caliber.

I am the challenger,

Striking with a Herculean impact

At every verbal attack.

A woman

In the arms of this world,

I shall stand undefeated.

Each battle succeeded

Never one to have fled.

As I stomp these streets in my coat of red,

Feel me as I walk this earth

In my groves of evergreen.

Standing tall

With dignity undiminished,

I will not fall.

In every corner of this spine

Lives this force of mine,

Never shrinking

To allow for the self-doubt of others

My power of self-unwavering.

If I must crouch,

It is to attack

Every strike and every bash.

A reckless beauty

Bathed in ivory,

Untamed

I will remain unchained.

I show up for this world

Thrown into a path of snubs hurled,

I Am Woman

Feel me as I walk this earth.