These are the things
I no longer wish to understand
The color of loneliness
Isn't grey or blue like you might think.
It is pink
Like I want to be red hot and frustrated
But I feel too beaten down
And can't pick myself back up
And no one notices
Even in the most crowded room
That when I walk into a room full of men
I would be defenseless
If they tried anything
Like so many other men do
To women around the world
Every minute of the day
That the same screens that bring us together
Drive us apart
In that everything we do and say
Is a double edged sword
And you no longer need a witness
Because the screens never forget.
That the average man
Respects that a woman is "taken" by another man
More than that woman's utterance
"No"
As if my opinions don't matter
That we tend to see melanin
Before we see humanity
And need
So before we allow ourselves to have compassion
We've decided it doesn't matter
As if their origin
Is any different than ours
We decide whose wars
Are legitimate
And who's aren't
Despite all the perspectives
That say they're fighting for survival
Just because we decide to close our eyes
And the more I look at it all
The more I realize
I don't understand
I was just conditioned to accept this
As if it's normal to dehumanize.
As a woman I was
Raised by society
To apologize
For every damn thing
And by god it's time
We stop apologizing for existing.
