Poems

Quiet

by
“You’re quiet.”
But when I open my mouth you open yours and talk over me
When I start a sentence you cut it halfway with pointless bullshit
You invade my space without looking at me
I’m just this small blob of woman to you
My space is yours, my body is an object, my time a commodity
Violence towards women is your birthright
It was taught to you at the cradle
Invisible, subtle. Gore and cruel.
You know a million ways to wield it and crush me

How old will I be when I manage to utter a complete sentence?
I have always second-guessed
Everything I have ever said.
Nothing has escaped my lips that hasn’t been thought and considered and weighed.
To be heard by your selective ears,
My voice needs to be mature and man-shaped
Husky and obscure, vaguely misogynistic.

You are entitled to my opinion
But expressing myself is a fight
Every single damn time.
I am quiet
I have been taught by secular tradition and culture
Books and TV and school and the old lady at the bakery
And every single one of my boyfriends
That women and children should be seen, not heard.
Unfortunately, I am both.

I am quiet, reflective, at times withdrawn
You own the world and you want me to say it is good
To mother you, love you, respect you
My voice is for you to influence and police
It doesn’t matter what I have to say
Unless it complements your empire

I am quiet
I boil inside
I have an ocean of words in my head and none of them are yours
My brain is a universe you don’t get to explore and colonize
I am quiet. I have nothing to offer you.
I am quiet. Hear me roar.

Dawn

by
Nostalgia colors everything sweet and golden
Even the sleepless, fearful nights
Spent eyes wide open, waiting for the sun to come out
And set me free

Talk

by
You do you.
Let them worry,
let them talk.

Let them dream
the future they
want for you.

Smile, say
“thank you”.

Then
you do you.

Boxes

by
Look at those people
Look at them like they are different from you
Like they will never belong where you will
Put some distance
More distance
Put up barriers and then walls
And don’t forget the shards of glass on top

Tell them how they are supposed to behave, dress and talk
Tell them who they are
And remind them everyday how different they are
And by different you mean inferior
Because everything has its box
Neatly labelled
And the mount of boxes HAS to be in order
Otherwise it’s chaos, you know?

So maybe their box is on the bottom
Weighed down by all the other boxes
But that’s not your fault
It’s just how the world is
And when they move around the box a little bit
It jostles and the boxes on top
Stumble and fall to the ground
You call for order
You are scared
They ruin everything
It’s their fault
You are scared because this box you put there
Could make the whole order collapse
If it moved just a little bit to the left

So you build more walls
You put more shards of glass on top
To protect your precious order
You tell them to behave
To fit in their box and stop moving
You are scared
It’s all their fault

The truth is
The chaos is in your head

Petite Princesse Alice

by
Petite Princesse Alice
Tourne entre ses dix doigts
Ses trois sous de malice
Remue au fond de moi
La tendresse qui s’attriste
La gaieté qui se noie