TeamGirlPowa Poetry Contest | FEELINGS (Poem + Artist Statement)

I’m done paying attention to your feelings
I’ve got some change but I’ll spill it as I mean it
I know you see yourself as the Lord’s anointed
Sit back, relax and watch me play the devil


First all, I’m setting fire to my apologies
But relax, I’m as calm as a raging tornado
It’s the natural outcome of the lies I’ve been fed
So I’m purging all of it out with my emotions


I realise you only wanted the best for me
Or was it the best of me? It’s hard to tell
For you keep telling me what to do and say
You tell me which emotions to hide or kill


Well, it’s the ghost of emotions past right here
Those feelings of anger I tried to bury alive
They are back with fire and your threats are straws
Hush, keep your apologies and listen to my apologia


You should know, I am first a human then a woman
I’m not going to claim that we are so alike
The only thing we share in common is our humanity
Naturally, I would expect that you knew that


But in your ignorance, you exploited my foolishness
Many years spent having a voice not to be heard
With a face not to be seen and an ear to obey orders
I’m done with my foolishness so it’s time you wise up


I am the same woman who wants the best for the world
This is simply an awakening of the fire inside of me
You can share in the flame or be burnt in its wake
It’s time you paid some attention to my feelings

This is my entry for the #TeamGirlPowa Poetry Contest: Feminist Fire! by @teamgirlpowa.

The Theme is ‘Feminist Fire’. I’ve been struggling to write poems of late so I decided to make it like a rap. The idea behind my lines is simple - I just need another paragraph.

First of, I believe every woman is a feminist. Some are simply aware of who they are, some are still discovering while others have forgotten their identities. For me, feminism is saying “I’m as much human as you are. My differences should been seen as adding flavour to humanity and not something demeaning.”

In that statement of mine is the general need to be understood and appreciated. Unfortunately, this has not been so. Popular culture (including jokes) portray women are a specie that cannot be understood. From this point, it is only one step to the downward spiral of ‘women are weaker vessels’, ‘women don’t know what they want’, ‘women are rarely logical’ and all of the other bullshit (forgive the expletive.)

For me, this all stems from ignorance. I have two sisters who are far more intelligent than the two boys in the house (my younger brother and I). I know what those girls can do so I give them my one hundred percent support. I’m always rooting for their opinions because I like the way they think. Their reasoning process is far more evolved than mine.

When I look at women generally, I see people like my sisters. I’ve seen women who take on responsibilities that would give most men a nervous break down. In fact, if some men were subjected to the subjugation that most women face, their sense of esteem would be eroded, some might contemplate killing their ‘captors’ while others might just commit suicide.

Unfortunately, women are sometimes ‘foolish’. Because they are wise, they know that a peaceful world benefits all. However, in their wisdom, they become foolish. They continually kill their desires and emotions simply because they want peace to reign, or they want the children to have a peaceful home or they don’t want another divorce or any one of the thousand reasons they can give.

The problem is that these emotions never really die. They simply hang around in the afterlife sapping life quieting and consistently. But these emotions are not intrinsically bad. Even the worst of emotions such as hatred and anger can serve good purposes. That we hate something means we realise desire the opposite. That we are angry means we’re ready to do what it takes to make the situation right.

Women have the fire. It is true that it is still a man’s world but as long as we keep saying that, nothing will change. Most men are simply used to the status quo and the bullshit fed by the media (women are included in it too). A lot of things need to change and anger and hatred could be very useful, at least in the beginning.

While we teach women to rise up to their full potential, to realise they are as human as any man is or can be, we should also teach the men that women are not inferior. While we teach women to reclaim their self-esteem, we should teach men to build their self-esteem on hard-work and productivity not on how many women they have flocking at their side or many people are under their control. Both genders can benefit from some reorientation.

I think I’ve said too much (probably more than I should). Please correct me where I am wrong. I am just a man who can make mistakes and misinterpret the facts.

Thanks for reading

Blessings

[Image source: Pixabay]