Wonderwomen
Wonderwomen do
What others say cannot be done
They bridge gaps
Turn tables
Swim channels
Change laws
Make history
Womenwomen juggle
Multiple commitments
To lovers, friends, family
Projects, passions, pursuits
Callings, causes, cares
Worries, woes and wanderings
And
keep all the plates spinning
Womenwomen face
Catcalling, groping, teasing
Put downs, sneers, belittling
Gossip, tittle-tattle, slander
Beatings behind closed doors
Shootings and stonings in the street
Low pay, low expectations
Exclusion from education
Drudgery, denigration,
Degradation, prostitution
FGM, Virginity tests,
Forced and child marriages
And still survive
To tell the tale
Womenwomen are told
Where and what to wear
Where and what to shave
Where and what to
Eat, cook, dine, shop,
Decorate, medicate, fornicate
But know their own minds
And follow their own destinies
Wonderwomen are taught
To view their cycles as curses
And to lie down during childbirth
They are named and shamed
Witches, bitches
Breeders, feeders
Hysterical madwomen
Yet they harness the innate
Power of their knowing bodies
And birth the world afresh
Wonderwomen are set
One against each other
In ‘a man’s world’
And
are encouraged to grow balls,
Man
up and climb the ladder.
Instead they woman up
Wise up, tune up, look up
Collaborate, cooperate
Inspire, aspire and conspire
Together in solidarity and parity
Womenwomen are told
That No means Yes
That Nice Girls Win
And Nice Girls are Thin
That sorrows can be drowned in gin
And Male Gods can save them from sin
They are told to stop before they begin
But they start anyway
And do not stop until
They have finished.
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