Unveiled Words

I'd never been a woman before.

Are those the words of a boy or a girl?

I'd never been a woman before

and before I could learn to love my body

I was bombarded with the responsibility

that my gender is responsible

The responsibility to minimize myself

so that men would not be aroused

minimize myself so men would not be tempted

minimize myself so men would not be threatened

minimize myself until I have no laugh, no cry, no thought.

When that sister warns me not to laugh in public

When that boy bullies me for crying

Then that woman tells me not to speak

I considered piercing my tongue with a metal spear

to remind me to keep my mouth shut

Could hooks on my lips close my mouth in silence?

My color is too bright- I am too vibrant

Must be vibrating some rhythm I have yet to know

Drape me in black shroud, I dare you

Cover my mouth to keep me silent

Black shroud as a shroud buries the dead

Death a constant reminder the mirror reflects

Given a mouth and a brain

handed to those who would shut it

Words to speak, Brain to think,

playing pretend culture shocks, disrupt it

The heart is always a distraction

Fill me with their words

that I never grow words of my own.

Tell me what my joy should be

that I have no pleasure of my own.

Dictate my every step

my every piece of clothes

Until I have no existence

no belonging anymore.