Pacifist not Passive

Like a sitting duck

We are prey

We are not human

Humanity is for those who pray

My existence is contingent on enduring the pain of the unspoken rules

My life matters less because they say so

My rights are not human

I am a monster of their creation

How dare an enemy combatant be educated? - they say

Who would teach a womb to speak? - they say

Where is the devil when you need him? - they ask

Drag the feminine rage to hell - they plead

Scrape me from the earth like scum

I am not worthy of a place to be

For we are not worthy of space amongst the rule makers and enforcers

We are not men or their proxies

Our holding of the masculine and feminine is unwanted

Our existence, our lives, our humanity is perched precaariously on the broken bones of spineless institutions

They'd rip out our throats if they could

Feed us the fruit of the poisonous tree

Laugh as they whip us

Thrash as we continue to exist

woe-MEN

In a field dominated by women you would think there would be an overflowing of empathy and compassion but instead there are the shrieking cries of "pick me."

Women who have tricked themselves into believing that if they inflict pain on their fellow sisters they will be spared the evils of a patriarchal system.

There is a unique cruelty when women perpetuate misogyny. It is in this evil that one can see the depths to which hatred of women has penetrated. Acts of violence performed by women against women.

Denial of worthiness. Propped up as vessels of life, unworthy of personhood. Required to act and speak and present ourselves in ways truly untethered from ourselves.

I am worthy of my life. I am not an inconvenience. I will never let them take me. I will not be quiet. I will not be silent. I will not be small. I will stoke the fire burning in my belly. I will feed the heat with the villainous words of those who would see me shrink.

Stranger

In the distance stood the Table mountain, the lack of peak blunted against the blue and white sky, the sun reflecting off of the snowy sides. I was walking on the frozen sand, waves lapping ever so gently on the shore. He looked over at me with a knowing nod and connected our humanity.

"Good morning," as if from god himself.

A simple, usually benign greeting. I felt whole. I felt worthy of being.

An aknolwedgement of my existence from a complete stranger brought me a peace I had so desperately been looking for. In an instant I was at one with the universe. Enveloped in the present moment.

I continued along the rapidly changing landscape feeling the presence of the universe around me. I breathed in the chilly air. Soaked up the rays of the late winter sun.