The Burden

He called my name;
--It made me shudder;
and stutter,
and try to say something important.

He, who was unguarded,
now had dogs at his feet.
He wanted me to bend over,
and do as he said.
He wanted to force himself into my mouth,
fill me with his importance,
his singular word,
--His seed; unerring his strength and malice.

I resisted the urge to bite down.
I resisted the urge to plunge something into his chest.
If I opened a hole in him,
he could feel what it was like to be penetrated;
He could feel what it was like to be a woman.
I could force the birth of his organs,
--and through pain he could know what it was to be us.

Us, weaker sex; us, stone around your neck;
You love to hate us; love to watch us under you.
Watch us on our knees- taking what you like,
what you see as order in the eyes of God;
Speak your word and we can have a place at your side.
You hate to love us; hate our tidal bodies and pointed stares.
Hate the word upon our lips,
our teeth set to free our sisters;
Latched to ship's poles we never break,
we know you and shut our eyes at your blows;
And you will never know how we birth'd our disdain,
and hid it behind our tongues.

And with his veiled dislike of my unfolding,
he forced me down, cooed my name;
Told me to run my hands over my eyes.
Said this was right;
This was a game of control,
but he offered no respect to that other sex,
read no fairer author, saw no art in the hands of delicate ease.
"I am man," he mouthed over my head,
and shoved his fingers past my lips.

--He called my name;
Burden,
and I turned away.