An Epistle on Rage

American women try to take back

Our rights to make decisions about

Our bodies, our families

Iranian women fight to liberate

Their hair, seeking freedom from

Patriarchal, tyrannical rule

Grieving so many years of being

Silenced, shushed like little girls

Instead of adult women

Why do men try to control

Women so?

We have each been birthed into

Our cultures, these spaces and

Places that support men’s towering

Over women and girls

Attempting to control our

Bodies, our brains, our looks

Our hair and our spirits

But

You can tie me down to a bed

You can burn me at a stake

Watching me die — and still

My Soul will unleash the chain

You placed around me, healing

Every arrow you shot through

My heart

My Soul leaps with Sorrow and Joy

You can no longer strangle my sweet spirit

My sacred and sublime spark will burn

Your fingertips

Every time you try to touch me