this flesh, like a leaf

A strip down
like a leaf left over
like meat, this flesh

time and this body

Age is a reference
to the relation you have
with a timely body:
ailing, wailing, slowly failing.

Drifting in the wrong waters

How many times, would I have had to die
because my ship drifted to where I didn't ask

tornado at sea,
I, am the difficult storm ahead

how many have to go, so I could feel
the wind as a brother

on my neck,
because my ship drifted to the wrong waters

in the room, a woman

She stuck in the room
like a cigarette
in a pile of cigars

less expensive
yet still destructive

Scout girl in uniform

Girl scout in uniform
beret in hand, smaller than half my waist

lifts her head up, demands
a treatment that is fair to her

despite the lack of fair skin
long hair, night-dark

a mother behind her, makes a scene
with her projected speeches

about respect. I wonder
when will I be able to raise a woman

of steel and feather
able to love and break as equally

as two sides of a coin
a woman unlike me

that has no bother with the things
left behind sunny days

this is the effect of one girl scout
asking for a glass of water to quench my thirst.

demanding parentage

Hard as stone
her demands, I complain to the wind
it hears me back with a song
she's your mother, isn't she? 

facing fear

like the start of a new month
like standing on a high tower
this is how we face fear

with a head that's never ready
with a heart that's careless

Sent to the swift wind

Sent to the swift wind
these locks
golden hair into thin air

Gender roles

In the kitchen we talk about
the placement of our hands, our forks
speak of the way men sit and women pose
your voice gets louder, blaming me
for the spots on the dishes
while mine grows into yours spotting a cloud in your eye.

a renewed faith

for miss B

You had a spark
a touch, that's always been different- you tell me

I shudder at the faith you give me
one I lost when I last saw you.

Strange Things Come Out of Your Mouth

Strange things come out of your mouth

you hear blame between the breaths

for the thoughts as they line waiting to exit

like preschoolers with heavy backpacks, your head

Read the rest here: https://visualverse.org/submissions/strange-things-come-out-of-your-mouth/

A day, selected for women

Selected, like a hand picking a flower out of its stem
is the day made to celebrate a majority
the inclination towards saying words that mean little on the ground stifles
all hopes I have built with imagination all those years
but a flower meeting my fingertips should be enough
to inspire me to make something valid at your hand
a celebration that fits me with my curves-
hugging me from head to toe.

Value, skirts, women

Your value
does not depend
on how short or long your skirt is, my sister.

this is womanhood

This is womanhood
you are bent over like a folded paper
yet are expected to keep standing.

this is how you see her

A person too short on life.

I fear that you see me just like all of them

A woman, no different. 

you move

like a wave
breaking
you move from head to toe

Do not save them

You are not born a woman
for one reason, to hatch an egg

to make of someone a human
you are not born a woman for a sole reason

you are not born a woman
to make meets end or to make ends meet

your body is not a bridge
to be trampled upon where they cross but you stay

so you are not born a woman of service
saying yes and no like you would exchange old cans

your words are precious
made from rare gems

you are not born woman to reap
what others have planted in your absence

to make you claim bad crop
worse confusion by the tongue

you were not born woman to be someone's hero
only mother, wife, handing over dreams for your life

you were not born to save someone
don't let him tell you are a savior

Take my eyes, friend

Take my eyes, friend
I will be able to show you how beautiful is broken

into little pieces of light colored scarves, like whispers
floating through the air,

Take my eyes, friend
I will be able to show you fear in different forms

how the house my grandfather lived in was broken into one night
in his eyes, as he departed, the sunshine broke over the grey sea

the sea where we swam
where we swore on our bodies, we shall be back, one day

take my eyes, friend
I will show you what it means to learn to dance for hours straight

yet still be awkward about the thousand ways
a woman is supposed to cross her legs

with decency, with vigor, with pride
without showing too much, or too little skin and stone

take my eyes friend,
I will take you to where a woman stitches pieces of tatreez

together, black background and red thread
one for blood, the other for those dead

take my eyes friend,
for my broken is beautiful
for my fear is accepted
for your love is redeemed with the wave of a hand to beauty.

On my back

We want different things from this life
I don't want your lame limp arm,
the one with the ring on its tips
on my back

Reference check

watch how you refer to your own body
the language you use for the ears
the speed you cater for the tongue
the darts you keep for the eyes
the remainder, flesh on flesh
skin; soft like almonds and sweet like honey
watch for the references you make to your own body
cherished, but like an old dress in the back of a closet
forgotten from day to day