in some places/women still die/for being women

like me/so I cannot let my silence save me /what is

my society’s contempt/compared to their society’s

knives~bullets~ropes and other instruments of

torture/and all because we love

her/(always,sometimes,mainly,only) her/because

we’re lov(h)ers/because we love our chests

rounded/hips flared/because some lips are

(naturally) softer than others/and we prefer(r)e(d)

them/because loving her feels so right/these women

pay for their ability to extract rhythms even from

fear/for transgressions deemed deviant to them who

will not understand nor hear/they pay for their

unwillingness to dance in closets/when club lights

are calling/and staying underground only forces

them away from the rainbows they be/they pay/with

blood/membrane/mutilations/even death/and still

they come/out/in villages, towns, cities/families,

schools, jobs/governments, societies,

histories/ ~memories~ /they are still

coming/still/feeling, fighting, forcing

FREEDOM/because the alternative is like dying

too/and it dishonors them/who go/no longer

slaves/those who are the brave/to deaths/often

times horrendous/while we keep coming/

still/out/in/over/our whispers becoming roars

 

∞

Lysanne ‘GoddessEye’ Charles is a native of the Dutch Caribbean islands of Saba and St. Maarten. She is a poet, writer, and activist who also has vast experience writing calypsos and socas, including power and groovy soca monarch winners. In 2019 she published HER(E): A Collection of Queer Caribbean LGBT Affirming Poetry & Short Stories. Website: http://lysannecharles.com/goddessEye.php