Time’s Up 

 

Is it coincidence

that at the end stage of the patriarchy

we see the extent of the abuse and rape of women exposed 

alongside the rape of the planet?

As the Earth is pillaged and torn,

all living beings regarded as resources or collateral,

woman is shorn,

time and again, of her dignity, stripped bare,

in the final days of the patriarchy.

She stands to say her piece

and even that courageous act,

dissected with disdain,

under the glare of gaslight, becomes a weapon

in the hands of those who seek to keep her silent,

severing the mother’s lips

to ram them down her own throat,

until she chokes with shame,

as judge and jury re-enact her violation.

Generations whipped with Adam’s rib,

bleeding out before their eyes,

as words of law enforced

become more real and worthy

than the soil beneath our feet,

more real than blood is ink,

as letters of appropriation slam with doom

upon the very wombs

of those who gave them life,

upon the very hand that holds us,

branding condemnation,

blazing words in toxic oil

to tear the very skin,

in suicidal matricide,

the blessed earth that births,

the only thing that keeps us

from oblivion.

 

©️Janey Colbourne 2018