Listen, I know you know how divided
the whole edifice is
from one doorstep in the rain
to another on the muddy caucus slope
being a woman (that experience that I do not have)
that weight that I don’t carry
I can hear with heart bone
and flash of goodness
how does one state the obvious?
I see, it’s fighting against the fight
that brings you here
of men and their never ending monopoly
over the dead of night
loud voiced, thick fisted
quiet, am I reaching through enough?
It isn’t your fault
the whole thing was already fucked
long before you got here
and it will be still long after
but this one is for you
for the woman who talks of her mother’s worry
over what “They” are saying about her daughter on the radio
the one born into a stacked deck
impossible odds and jagged edged evens
can do no right
but isn’t that all of us?
For the non abstract actual you
I want to say unapologetically:
no one is so completely this or that
that there is no spill over,
and cruelty is a cup that will not let it fall.