Guess wrong. Choose me,
old as Weinstein
struck not by stars nor by thunder
lightning rod of my own undoing
again and again by sexist presumptions
assumptions, actions almost unemployed
definitely derailed, denied, reviled
when I refused to sleep with my boss
in the time before words, before naming
who heard me? my friend claims now
I never told her she just couldn’t hear
laughed it off before it was identified
made visible, seen I was called
too sensitive, too rigid too young
delusional, my 3 degrees did not
protect me, did not aid my ascent
ensure access, assure any safety or progress
prove my twice-as-good capability
or worth, through decades of
handmaidenship silenced, muffled, muzzled
hobbled, cuffed, while generations of fathers
of daughters and husbands of wives
clambered over, trod, or spat on me
I’m old now. Choose me
to sit in judgement.
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Akua Lezli Hope is a creator and wisdom seeker who uses sound, words, fiber, and metal to create poems, patterns, sculpture, stories, music, adornments and peace. Her collection, Them Gone, was published in 2018.
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