can you see them taking over my spirit
shaking out of my limbs
to do everything
they couldn’t do
when they were alive
i dive into the well of my body
and end up in another world
everything i need
already exists in me
there’s no need
to look anywhere else
- home
oh but the pussy is brave
lest we forget
how much pain
the pussy can take
how much pleasure it delivers
unto itself and others
remember
how it spit you out
without a flinch
now here you are
using the word pussy
like an insult
when you’re not even
strong enough to be one
live loud and proud like you deserve
and reject their bullshit definition
of what a woman should look like
women have been starved of space for so long
when one of us finally
makes it into the arena
we get scared that another woman
will take our spot
but space doesn’t work like that
look at all the men in the arena getting stronger
as their numbers multiply
more women in the arena means
more room for all of us to rise
- stronger together
i am not interested in a feminism
that excludes trans women
he says you’re opinionated
as if it’s an insult
to have ideas so big
he chokes on the size of them
- never be quiet
look for the women in the room
who have less space than you
listen
hear them
and act on what they’re saying
- amplify indigenous. trans. black. brown. women of color voices.
why escape yourself
when you are so beautiful
get closer to your shine
on days i could not move
it was women
who came to water my feet
until i was strong enough
to stand
it was women
who nourished me
back to life
- sisters
make it a point
to love yourself
as fiercely as you do other people
- commitment
it shouldn’t affect anyone
what we do with our bodies
least of all those who haven’t
walked a day in our shoes
give me laugh lines and wrinkles
i want proof of the jokes we shared
engrave the lines into my face like
the roots of a tree that grow deeper
with each passing year
i want sunspots as souvenirs
for the beaches we laid on
i want to look like i was
never afraid to let the world
take me by the hand
and show me what it’s made of
i want to leave this place knowing
i did something with my body
other than trying to
make it look perfect
i can’t take my eyes off of me
now that i see myself
i can’t take my mind off of me
can’t believe the tricks
my hands have been up to
the sermons i spoke into existence
the mountains i crushed
with my fingers
and the mountains i built
from all the shit
people tried to
stone me to death with
- warrior
i often daydream about the woman i’ll be
when i leave the rush of
my insecure twenties
and pick up self-assurance on the way
i can’t wait to make
my eighteen-year-old self jealous
of the hell i raise
roaring into my thirties and forties
my soul becoming
more potent with age
at fifty i’ll sit with
my wrinkles and silver hair
laughing about the adventures
we’ve had together
talking about the countless more
in the decades ahead
what a privilege it is
to grow into the
finest version of myself
- aging
be here
in what needs to be done today
- that’s how you honor tomorrow
if the devil hadn’t
pushed you into a corner
and forced you to break its neck
how would you have known
you were this strong
there are miracles in me
waiting their turn to happen
i am never giving up on myself
you do not belong to the future or the past
- you belong right here
get loud
say what you need to say
it feels good to reclaim your life
the way we rise
from every sorrow in life