and we said

try with all your might

to hold yourself up in this world

should you fall, do so quietly, lest

you disturb this delicate status-quo

do not be loud, do not make a fuss

these are things only rude people do

like those who talk on phones loudly

in confined spaces

penguins with plastic attached to their beaks

yak yak yak they go

but nobody seems to tell them to

shut it

and the propriety of life

misses a stitch

a heart beat

a compassionate rinse

through the annals of time

thinking of how we have always

stifled valuable voices

in favor of noise

putting up with the yak and not

the desperate drum beat of a woman

unraveling

she has spun her loom

throughout the city and its artifices

with alacrity and the sweat of female

labor, she has borne her children and

created a field of poppies, that threaten

to dazzle the very sun

she has grown her hair long and matted, until

it is thick enough to reach the moon

where she sits

howling

at the ravages of life

permitted at last

to possess

a voice

8 Replies to “The woman in the moon”

  1. Here, I would place these lines on repeat. They’re the strength of the poem to me.

    “she has borne her children and

    created a field of poppies, that threaten

    to dazzle the very sun

    she has grown her hair long and matted, until

    it is thick enough to reach the moon

    where she sits

    howling

    at the ravages of life”

    This is very well done, Candice

  2. “you disturb this delicate status-quo
    do not be loud, do not make a fuss
    these are things only rude people do”

    These lines immediately had me envision my mother in my head saying “angry people are crazy!” and “what will the people think?” during those times where my frustrations had reached their threshold. Growing up in our household was one of always pushing our personality and individuality down. Maybe it’s why I now defy what “society” tells us we should do or be. πŸ™‚ Great piece, Beauty! <3

  3. However much noise we may happen to hear, however loud it may be, within, among, behind it all there are real voices we must not merely hear but listen for and to, they are there.

  4. Yes! I have an older gay friend who thinks women should orgasm as loudly as possible, just to reclaim sacred space in this world πŸ™πŸΌπŸ˜

  5. This is quite a reflection on life Candice – born with a voice, then forced to conceal it, only to reveal it when it is felt that no- one will listen. The irony being that those who shout loudest are those with the least to say.
    Fine writing.

Comments are closed.