
Serena Williams defends her integrity and legacy at US Open 2018.
I knew it was coming. #usatoday started the berating and dehumanizing of Serena Williams and I’m sure others will follow. But, we must SPEAK and tell our own stories. We must constantly remind the world that we are human and that we have every human right to defend ourselves, our integrity, our legacy, our bodies, our names, our children, our honor. Stop trying to silence and police women!
You Owe Me
Laugh, speak, walk softly.
Spread wide, bend low, take it, but keep your head up.
Don’t wear your feelings.
Don’t be so sensitive, angry, aggressive.
Be softer, kinder, sweeter.
Suffocate in suppression.
Let me penetrate your space, your spaces, your safe places have no place here.
That’s too short, too tight, too low, too much.
Quiet, simmer, hunker down.
Don’t be so loud, so mannish, so rude,
Wait for my call, my lead, my direction.
It’s shoeless with swollen bellies.
Get out of your feelings.
You’re too beautiful not to smile,
But, fuck your feelings! I’m a woman dammit. And, it has more to do with than what’s in between my legs, but what’s in here, and here. I cry motherfucker! And, when I do, that means run for your fucking life because the dam has been broken and the tsunami is coming. You can’t restrain, refrain, restrict a tidal bore. Your daddy’s a whore.
Don’t touch me without my permission or assistance. Access is not granted, cannot be mandated.
Get your hands off my body.
Get your laws off my body.
Get your cuffs off my body.
Get your bondage off my body.
Get your death off my body.
Get your words off my body.
Keep my name out your mouth.
You cannot possess a deity.
Beneath my straddle. Covered by my reach. Enveloped by my grace. Healed by my touch. Embraced with my warmth. Be in awe of such power.
I am the reaper, the giver and guider of life.
I am the gift you don’t deserve.
You can’t hide me or put me on display.
I stand centerstage of my own coliseum,
destroying all shelves and corners.
Mama Zora told us to SPEAK of our pain
or else you’ll think we enjoyed it.
You aren’t nearly as good as you think you are, without me. Without me.
My shape shapes everything around you.
You smile, and know that I am here.
–Talitha Anyabwelé
©2018
https://soundcloud.com/user-104246940/you-owe-me