Because women are expected to keep silent about
Their close escapes, I will not keep silent
And if I am destroyed (naked tree!) someone will please
Mark the spot where I fall and know I could not live
Silent in my own lies
Hearing their "how nice she is!"
Whose adoration of the retouched image
I so despise.
No. I am finished with living
For what my mother believes
For what my father and brother defend
For what my lover elevates
For what my sister, blushing, denies or rushes to embrace.
I find my own
Small person
A standing self
Against the world; an equality of wills
I finally understand.
Besides:
My struggle was always against
An inner darkness: I carry within myself
The only known keys
To my death -- to unlock life, or close it shut forever.
A woman who loves wood grains, the color yellow
And the sun, I am happy to fight
All outside murderers
As I see I must.
--Alice Walker
3 comments:
I love Alice Walker though I confess to not having read her in some time.
In Our Mother's Gardens (I think?) is the name of one of her books that I once kept on my bedside table and referred to often.
It is not that I no longer feel a kinship with her--it is more the spending time with others whose work I have not read.
Oh my. There are times we can say nothing other than Oh my. Alice Walker made me feel that way often.
Thanks for stopping by Maggie!
Do you have any suggestions? It's so difficult to find new and good poetry. (It's easy to find new and bad poetry.) Anyone I should look into?
Been a really crazy week getting back into the groove of working and with the death of one of my daughter's friends (who also happens to be the son of my sister's best friends) so I am just now checking my blog and emails, etc.
I shall revisit tomorrow and give you some humble suggestions.
Peace and blessings to you and yours this night,
M
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