Quote

" I'm a hungry woman...
...But don't you dare forget
You gotta feed my head too
"

Hungry Woman Blues II, Gaye Adegbalola

Sunday, 8 March 2020

A Pair of Poems for IWD: Part 2

For the Fighters


This one is for the Fighters
The warriors
And worriers

You are the future.

Progress needs you
     Demands you
We stagnate without you
Drifting further and further from the equality we need
     We can achieve
But only with you. Us.

Life hasn’t dealt us a fair hand
We face battles and obstacles
     From before we are born
It is a fight to play
A fight to learn
To have your say
To stand up, be heard

They dismiss us
And miss us
Passive negligence
Active oppression
Misunderstanding
Misdirecting
Breaking promises
Not sharing
Never caring

We pity them.

For a life so disconnected
A self so fragile
No wonder they are shouting
     Never listening
     Always bristling
Acting entitled and arrogant
Projecting
Believing their own lies

Because the truth is hard
And they don’t have the strength
To not take the easy road.

Without us, they go nowhere
Circles
Patterns repeating
But no-one growing
The world shrinking
Because they have not the strength.

*

To choose to fight
When you know
You can stop
And be alright
Is not to fight at all

So we take that role.

And we take their scorn
Their dismissal
Their war
We take it and we fight that too

With our anger
Frustration
Our anxiety
Our connections
     With each other
Our belief forged in hardship
     That things can be better

And we keep going
We push
And we fight
And we make things better
     For everyone.

It is a thankless task
But we will not give up
For fighting is winning - that victory is ours.

Written 15/2/20 on the train home from a rainy day touring the cafes of Southsea and putting the world to rights with my wonderful friend Ellen. 
Shared after encouragement from one of the strongest fighters I know.


3 comments:

  1. Fabulous. You're wasting your talent. You must write more

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You’re too kind! Thank you :) I do have a couple of other writing projects brewing too - who knows, maybe one day I might be brave enough to share them too!

      Delete
  2. This is beautiful and amazing Jess. You should submit it for publishing.

    ReplyDelete