nevertheless, she persisted
she spoke the words of our predecessor
and she was told to be silent
she was told to sit down
she was told, implicitly, that her words do not matter
but his bid to silence her failed, explicitly
and, damn, her words matter
she followed his rules
she shut her mouth
but only in his presence
and only for a short time
she spoke the words she was told not to
she stood outside his door and she spoke the words of her foremother
and herself
Liz spoke the words of Coretta
it turns out that we’ve been warned
twice
about racism
about the nominee for attorney general
about how those two intersect in a venn diagram that looks like a single circle
and after she was silenced on the senate floor
after she was told to hush now, little girl
men spoke
reading from the same letter
reading the same words that were used to silence her
men spoke and were not warned of reprimand
men spoke and did not have things “explained” to them
men spoke after a woman was silenced
and i’m told we don’t need feminism anymore
i have one thing to say to that:
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