Sometimes I Want to Write a Poem

Sometimes I just want to write a poem to all my sisters everywhere working to end all this violence, a poem to celebrate that we have the chance to be in this work together, to feel around us all who are working with and for us, finding ways to support what we are doing, our entire community here, within World Pulse who understand that it is the leadership of women that is so desperately needed in this world. 

I want this poem to celebrate that we are able to meet in within this circle, as women finding ways to deepen our connections with each other, unafraid to name and challenge this violence as we continue to build this pathway that we are opening, creating a world in which women and girls are respected. As we unapologetically use our time on this Earth to end all of these forms of violence, working for freedom and respect for every woman and girl on this planet, while we hold to our goal in its fullness, an end to violence in every form.

I want this poem to document that we continue to be fought against for doing this work, degraded, called selfish and dangerous, while within this shameful global economy with its dirty money system, work done by women is expected to be done for free. This global economy in which there are multi billionaires while billions of people have nothing. This money system in which less than 1% of funding goes to women, kept especially from women who cannot escape, kept from women who do healing for women, or who speak out about and work for a global system in which everyone is free, in which there is no more war, no poverty, no ruining our beloved Earth. The more we are met with resistance, the more we understand that we are seen as a threat, because we help women get strong, believing in ourselves and in the necessity of creating real change.

I want to write this poem to keep known that we have documentation through our herstorians, those who have dug deep to find the stories of women, evidence back through time of so many ways, so many places not only in which women and girls have been and continue to be violated, but also the knowledge of times and places in which leadership of women existed and still exist in peaceful communities, information that has been and continues to be intentionally kept hidden from us. 

I want to write a poem about the joy we experience, to be able to meet in this circle of women, to plan together, and to acknowledge this as a gift, because we are able to document the violence still happening, offer healing, inspired by the changes our sisters are creating, this work together for what we know is possible.

As I am writing this, news has come in of yet one more young woman who has been horridly beaten, this violence instigated by her brother, capturing her and taking her to be forced through fgm. We know this because a sister sent in a video that someone made, watching the attack. We have news that she is alive and getting help. We know this because of this network we have been creating, and we trust that there is power and healing through the love we send, even from great distances.

Sometimes I want to write a poem to all my sisters everywhere so that when we are feeling the weight of it all we can remain inspired by all of the news pouring in, documenting all of the work that is being done, knowing where we are, and that we are everywhere. 

Sometimes I just want to write a poem to all my sisters to share the joy that we are now working together, making sure that our perspectives as women are heard, raising each others’ voices, working to end this global violence in all of its forms, pushing through the roadblocks, this ongoing resistance to women taking a stand, feeling the strength and power that comes from our finding each other, celebrating that we have already been able to create such a beautiful wave of healing, protection and love.