There Is No Such Thing As A Woman

Contains strong language

if i say i am a woman
will you take an ice-pick to my tongue & climb inside
my mouth & sculpt the word in your image?

if i cry out equality in my sleep
the word too bright to see in daytime anymore
will you ask me to sprinkle it onto your dinner plate &
will i oblige?

if i use the f word –
not f*ck –
the other one
the obscene one
will you ask me to wring it out of your socks across the balcony &
will i oblige?

if i say there is no such thing as a woman
you cannot take my word & sharpen it
bend the tip backwards until it pierces my own pupil
if i say there is no such thing as a woman
then there is no such thing as a madonna
if i say there is no such thing as a woman
then there is no such thing as a wh*re

if i say there is no such thing as a woman
then we are a faceless mass
shapes contorting
colourless & writhing
tell us again of the papercuts you drew
in bloodlines across the globe
then we are the trees
uprooted by your revolutions
lost in the fine print of your
new constitutions
then we are the signatures
splattered across your polling stations our ink
stains fingernails & shirtsleeves
then we are everything
you denied us

if i say there is no such thing as a woman
are you afraid now?
did you forget our blood was always
the oil of our machines?
did you forget i too was born under the
gaze of your male gods?
that when you offered me a drawing pin i gladly fixed
my tongue to the roof of my mouth?
nothing
comes easier than asking for your
permission

but if i say there is no such thing as a woman
then your fist will close on screaming air
& you will have no power over me