March: When We Speak

We sit and listen, we nod along,

Hush! the man is speaking.

He is going to tell us what we already know,

we are going to parented like he is genius.

I wonder how many men become geniuses,

simply because the women in their lives—

did not have the time to argue,

simply because she listened, hummed, and nodded.

 

You never know if he is who he says he is.

You never know if he is going to kiss your neck—

or slit your throat open, painting you red.

You never know if he’s playing with your hair—

or if you are going to be another Porphyria. 

So when a man talks you play by the book.

that our mothers and grandmothers wrote,

they wanted us to keep the tradition,

but we don’t want our daughters to scream like their mothers.

Maybe if we hadn’t spoken up our daughters wouldn’t even whisper.