Poem #11: Get Back in the Ring

Let me take you behind the scene
Where the people live on another screen
Well, we all love screens,
And confuse them for the truth.

We have no reason to doubt it
We can’t imagine a life without it.

Was it the Oscar stage or a lion’s cage?
Either way, she
Turned the page on the rage that turned to strength.

Stand with me if you are women
Don’t let them tell you you cannot win again

Don’t let them tell you your face needs lifting
Or that your expectations need shifting
You never lost a thing
Get back in the ring

Listen, man, why are you silent?
Pretending it’s normal when you know it is violent
You eat from the table while we get crumb-lucky at best.

Don’t tell me that you are not like those guys
Or that the system is screwed and franchised
We can’t do everything
Get back in the ring.

Come with me where you will be seen
Where the people say what they really mean
What they really mean is not mean
It’s just the truth.

I have a thirst for the wisest women
To tell me the stories of what they’ve done and where they’ve been…

As we get older, we‘ve got so much more to say
We know the value of staying in the day
And pivot to the sons and daughters
The world we leave them is so much harder
Than the one to which we cling
So get back in the ring.