I Don't Feel Like a Woman
March 8th, 2024
I don’t feel like a Woman:
Because Woman is Freedom,
And I feel the shackles upon my feet
Placed at my birth.
The umbilical cord was no sooner cut,
My first breath barely filled my tiny lungs.
They announced my death sentence:
Tears rolled from my mother’s eyes.
I don’t feel like a Woman:
Because there are women who live in poverty,
Whose liberties were stripped from them
By ravenous men.
Men, who have stripped me down too.
Bare-bone, stomachs against the wall.
They say they have consent, that I am free;
Oppression feels a lot like Men’s freedom.
I don’t feel like a Woman:
Because envy feels like those mean girls
Who said I wasn’t pretty enough for boys
So they could be honored by male affection.
I thought my life was to marry: be merry,
appeasing, and gracious to my husband.
Sapphic was a word I learned when I met
Divine Femininity: Love, Wisdom & Beauty.
I don’t feel like a Woman:
I’m terrified of having a child, a divine right,
Because men are too immature;
They want to pollinate but never to see me bloom.
They say war and machines have more rights
To our bodies as they blow holes into
Women & children, but an embryo has
A right to a life of violence and war.
I don’t feel like a Woman
Because I feel all the women around me dying.
Once a month we shed blood, but
Every day we have shed blood and tears.
Cleopatra once said
“a man will never find my body,”
And I wish to never be found by men again.
Make me a virgin, and I will repent.
This life doesn’t feel like Woman.
About the Creator
Sofia Loren Perez
Entries from my lifelong series: The Diary of a Biracial Girl. All work is my own. Find me on social media: @thesofloren.
"Through waves of insanity
Your solace rises in the East
And calms my stormy waters."
-Solace
Comments (1)
"Because men are too immature; They want to pollinate but never to see me bloom." These lines are the ultimate truth! Loved your poem!