“A woman who will be like a rock in a riverbed, enduring without complaint, her grace not sullied but shaped by the turbulence that washes over her.”
― A Thousand Splendid Suns
A woman who stands tall like a tree may face typhoons but she will not move for any amount of force. her limbs may shake and he leaves may fall but no level of arrogance can budge a mighty oak. a woman’s roots reach deep into the earth, wrapping around its core and twisting with every other woman on this planet. no matter how far we may be from each other, or what our history, skin tone, religion, or biology is, we are women. and woman stand like the tallest of mountains.
Jade Bartlett’s Doll Face
I breathe,
and my balloon animal lungs grow tight.
The barbed wire tangled around them
threatening to pop if I take one more breath.
The sharpened wire mangles my intestines,
every pull or push I am punctured.
An overflow of blood drips inside of me
in my darkest depths.
Every heartbeat is contracted against metal thorns
that tear at my arteries and when I think of you it beats
so fast that the pain is almost unbearable.
but I must be strong,
because if I slouch another part of me will press
against the sharp walls of my own body.
I bleed and cry fro you but my smile says,
“Everything is alright.” and you
ignore me.
My glass eyes scratched from the metal
wound up into my eyelids so even
when they are closed I am not safe from the pain you cause me.
I love you.
But that is my greatest torture.
