#feministasfuck: #15, #thisbody, #comfort

by Ani King

 

#15

 

Do not go gentle into that fucking boardroom

In your good-girl skirt

And your yes-sir shoes

And your I’m-sorry shirt

 

            as if you’ve done something wrong

            in being right.

 

Ingenuity is not accident

There is no shame in your bright, sharp mind

Let others cut themselves on the edge of your ideas

While they clamor to steal them

hide them in their pockets

 

as if you’ve done something wrong

in being right.

 

 

---

 

#thisbody

Others might describe her as pale and freckled

I say she is the night sky in reverse

She is a holy map of secret constellations

            I follow them from limb to limb

                        to mouth

 

Others might say that she has red hair

I say she is a woman burning

She is a fire in the dark

            I follow her light to tangled

                        sheets

 

She sees herself as fat and plain

I say she is an abundant feast

My mouth and hands are always full

            My eyes brim and spill her out

                        so that her beauty sloshes everywhere

---

 

#comfort

 

i say

i have been held down

by

my hair

by

my arms

legs

spirit

i say please

until

tile

until

concrete

dirt

water

cools my flesh

and still

you say

my suffering

is women’s suffering

my suffering

is an open mouth

a red gash

a bloody heart

like most women’s things

you say

***

Ani King is a Michigan author, as well as Editor in Chief of Syntax & Salt: Stories. She can also be found at http://thebittenlip.com/?page_id=61

*Cover art courtesy of Toby Penney*