Tag: feminism

Not Pretty

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Why am I not pretty
And it’s a chorus, are you singing it with me 
As they make up the foundation 
To sell us one side of an equation 
Seventeen to twenty four
Til they don’t want you anymore
And I fell into the sway
But it’s not what I thought, okay
As I was labelled beautiful and sexy 
Til I gained weight and then it’s like, next, we
Don’t have time
To be the victims of your favourite crime 
And you’re just jealous coz they don’t see 
The same thing when they’re looking at me 
And is it some kind of superficial 
To be so contrived in the official 
Way they tow the line 
Because I feel fine
The way I am 
Have no ambition to Uncle Sam
My way into the American dream 
And be a supernova queen 
On the cover of a magazine 
I just want to scream 
That everything just fades and falls 
And all the walls 
I thought I had up 
Just drop away in this love
As someone somewhere says I look like the sky
And the days I wanted to die
Are long gone
But that song
Still sings on repeat
Don’t judge someone 
Til you’ve felt their heartbeat

Pink Parade

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I’ve learned not to fight with the feminists
They never seem to get the point 
It seems more about our differences
Than the ways that we are joined
And the women wanted to join the march
But their shirts weren’t made of starch
So they couldn’t play
I watched them turn the floats away
Because if you stand in the way
Of Roe V. Wade
You can guess the dragon that will be slayed
And I know it goes against the grain 
But I cannot triumph the rain 
When it falls upon bitter hands
Who claim that they own the lands 
When they only till the field 
And the feminine must yield 
To the greater flow of life
That doesn’t mean I’d be a wife
Or subservient to a man 
But I just never can 
Let myself believe 
That I grieve
Over sufferings that mean nothing at all 
And when you talk to the wall
It does not talk back 
So I walk away with all I lack 
And leave that shit behind 
They don’t control this mind

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Rebelling Against What I Know

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He thinks he has something to give to me
But I’ve been set free
And your cocaine soul 
Is not enough to intoxicate and roll
Me up like a cigarette 
At least, it hasn’t yet 
And you show your cards to the deck
But you don’t see the summer that you wreck
When you try to tear me down
And rip shreds into my beautiful gown 
The one I wore to the dance
And I’m all about a second chance 
But forget about a third
Because I am a bird
And I’ll fly away from here
I won’t be tethered to you, dear
Not in any of your dreams
You can burst all of the seams
And it still won’t be enough to take 
The part of me that I will not forsake
You say you’ve been misunderstood
And all you’ve ever meant was the good
That human beings aspire to 
But I was there when you 
Pulled the switch on the phone 
Called me a bitch and left me alone 
To face the dragons that breathe 
Down my neck and seethe 
With the fumbling weight of time 
And I never did call you mine
Because you always moved from the casing 
So now I’m intent on erasing 
All that you were to me 
Is it enough if I set you free?

My Fight With Feminism

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They tell us to co-opt
And be something we are not 
Coz I am soft and I am supple 
And I dream of being part of a couple 
And they say that white feminism is not intersectional 
And it is too one directional 
And I have to agree
Because it has never been me
But there are parts of it I would pluck 
Because I still give a fuck 
About independence and freedom 
But I would never cede them 
To another hand 
And they say to let it go is grand
But I stand on my high horse 
And do so with no remorse
Because the beating heart
Is something that will always start
Within my own 
And it is not something that I could disown
And I imagine myself being taken
In the moment love is forsaken 
And being heavy with child
And losing all my wild
That blows with me in the wind
And the people say it’s the woman who’s sinned
When a man commits adultery 
That you should never let them see your sultry
Gaze
And there’s cities that they’d raze 
Because they haven’t met
The part of themselves they can’t forget
Buried deep within the grass
Hidden in a childhood that is part of the past
And lost innocence will do that 
Far more dangerous than an old spinster and her cats
But society would have you believe
That this burden must be relieved
Into the female prone 
And I just stare at my phone 
Because I loved him true
How could he do this to you? 
In the name of a just defence
I can’t contemplate what it meant 
Anymore
And every open door
Was slammed shut in his face
Because he is a living disgrace

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The Castle In The Sky

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He bullied me into letting go
And I fell into the snow
And it was icy cold
Can I be brave, can I be bold? 
And just speak my own truth
Reflected through the prism of youth
That is growing long
But still I believe that strong
Comes with age
If you do not allow it to turn the page
On the fiercest of you 
If my heart means anything too
It will continue to burn a hole
Through the veil that hides the soul 
From the masses
And the classes
That I aced
Were nothing to the glory of his face
When it was revealed to me
He tried to steal into what it means to me
But it cannot be undone
Once you’ve seen the sun
You cannot unmake it
And I would never forsake it
Not for a pretty boy
That uses females like a toy
To play with in the day
But in the night it goes away
And he is mired in loss and pain
And learns to live with the rain
That pummels the skin
I told him that if he let me in
I could make it better
And the weather
Would pass
But our moment didn’t last
As he sold me out for someone else
And claimed that mental health
Is more important than truth
My God, life can be such a brute
But it will reveal itself to you
If you let the web fall through
Into the long lost water 
I am no wife, I am no daughter
I am no female set free
I am what I’ll always be

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The Weather Brushes Aside

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The weather brushes aside
And I am alive
Still, in spite of all the years
And the tears
Only served to make me stronger
But I don’t entertain them any longer
And I lost someone who means the most to me 
But I’ve been consoled he’s been set free
Unto the Great Expanse
Where all the spirits go to dance
When their day is done
In the realm beneath the sun
We call Earth
And the hurt 
Fails and falls apart
Under the power of the heart 
And he’s always throwing slurs 
Because he’s afraid of what we were 
In the old domain
And he’s had his share of pain 
And he takes it out on us
The female is no longer a plus
One
And undone
Is the male sovereignty 
That tries to lay claim to the best of me 
In the winter months 
And all of the stunts 
That they pull 
Can’t destroy the cotton wool 
Of being pure
It’s the one thing I know for sure

Ancient Structures

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Is it possible I’ve internalized the misogyny
Is that why I tend toward androgyny 
Because the idea of being woman is too much to take
I call them out, then they call me fake
And I tried to build tall castles to the sky
But they said don’t hassle a reason why
So I took a back seat
Took the weight off my feet
And kicked back and went slack
Coz when I say something’s wrong, they think it’s an attack
When I’m just relaying how I see it
And if you want a change then you’ve got to be it
So I absconded away from the fort
The queen was in waiting for the lines that blurred
And she grew tired and drained
Longed to be running in fields where it rained
And she laughs out loud and turns her hands up
Let her skin soak in a pure drug
As the open air blew her flaws
Away from the ice where the glacier thaws
And someday she’ll see
She already is what she tries to be
As she struggles in vain
Makes the same mistake all over again
And blames it on them or on herself
She trades in things that she’s never felt
But strives just to be
I thought ambition was at the heart of me
But something new
Made its way to the sea so blue
And I’m so grateful for seeing through
The empire I craved to put my hand to
Now I’m all organic and essential oils
They say the world spins for the one who toils
But I’ve found my own soliloquy in something quiet
Love’s not a drug and you cannot buy it
Only feel true
Into the depths and hollows of you
Into the peace
I took a breath and the storm cease

The Majority

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The tyranny of the majority 
Goes unobserved
Coz it’s not a dictator 
That we serve
But you gotta know
That John Stewart Mill
Wasn’t serving checks 
At the till
As he talked about
The subjugation of the female
Now they’re in our contacts
Or our email
Watching over our shoulder
The stuff we do
And I’m just as normal
As the next one, are you?
Coz if you
Step out of line
You’ll do some 
Anti social time
On the clocks 
Or on the checks
And if you’re wondering
What’s coming next
You better be aware
The reason why
I can’t meet your stare
I’m just as dissatisfied 
But hyper conscious
Of all that I do 
In the gaze of the anxious
Coz I’ve been one myself
Now I’m back to New York
The road it bends
Before the fork
And I gotta 
Make a choice
Stand up and
Use my voice
For as fragile 
As it may seem
Everyone who
Wakes the dream
Makes it a little easier
For those to follow
And trusting the movement
Isn’t as hollow
As you might think
Don’t believe them when they say
Have another drink
It’ll be okay
And is it time
To add my stead
To the rock and roll
In my head
And you gotta hand it
To the new generation
They’re holding steady
Not flicking the station
Are we millennials 
Or Gen Z
Watching our phones
Like they’re tv
Only to realise 
It’s not real
Just a story
About how we feel
And drama we make
Will play itself out
Until we’re left
With nothing to doubt
And set our foot 
On certainty
Just remember
You’re always free

The Horrors I Hear

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***Trigger Warning***

Tonight Samantha told a story that sent a chill down my spine 
And it was stereotypical of things that ring true to mine
It was an occasion I’d heard of before
But it was still something I abhor 
A woman just after giving birth
Crying about the way it hurt
And she’s so young, so young
Most of her peers are still having fun
And she’s here delivering a child
Does she get to keep her wild
And I think of the raw way it must feel
A viscerality that is real
And how must it be to be so weak
A vulnerability that simply speak
Mountains of what’s expected 
And all that I’ve rejected 
Til her husband appears on the scene 
He’s not something out of a dream
And she starts to scream 
No, no, stop, stop
And I see myself in shoes I will not 
Concede to wear
How bad was the tear
In the fabric true 
And, yes, I’m asking you
To reach into the store
And somehow be something more 
Coz how is woman treated this way
As if it doesn’t matter what she say
It’s gonna happen regardless 
I wonder would a shard of glass
Serrate the edge
As he puts the head
Of the matter to rest
And does his best to bury himself 
In something else 
As she cries and begs coz the pain
It’s right after a shower of rain
And he is opening the door 
Living like she is the shore 
He is bound to dock
And I wanted a rock
Not a ship with no base
Running like I’m the race
He must fight to get to
But I know it’s all about you
In the winter and in the ward
Eternity, maternity and the sword

The Supposition of Masculine Power

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The supposition of masculine power, where ownership is key
About five minutes in, I realise it’s me
That they are drawing down, that they are pulling in
And I have to back off because I love Him
The symbol of freedom, the symbol of love
I have always been captivated by God above
The ever present hero in the midnight of my soul
Who lifts me when I’m down and remakes me whole
And I can stay as friends or even as a bro
But I can never be your chick, your girl, your ‘ho
Coz I’ve found something better, so far beyond the pale
And my integrity is not up for sale
You say there is no price, you say that all is free
Then you question why I will not trade my dignity
So if you love me sideways, then you can love head on
Don’t hate my beautify and wonder why I’m gone
For I stand the ground I own and I own what I am
Maybe this is why it never goes to plan…..
Or maybe it’s that I am just too hard to hold
I’m always diamond mining and searching for gold
Always staring at the sea to Moana the age
Or Atlantify, hiding in a cave