Alone in the dark

She's No Woman Who Cannot Bear a Child!

Her husband had returned her to her father’s house
For failing to bear him a son
So you’d think she’ll be more empathic,
And yet Mamle’s voice was loudest in the chants
that were meant to chase her sister-in-law
away from her brother’s house.
Each time the women gossiped at the river,
She made sure to remind them her brother’s wife was barren.

Whenever she visited, and she did that often,
She arose at dawn to clean and to cook,
With an arrogance that suggested
She was silently sending someone a message.
Then just when she was about to leave
She’ll whisper to him, hardly loud enough for her to hear,
“This man you have married must be sent away.
She is no woman who cannot bear a child!”

But she wasn’t sent away so no one got to know
That it was Mamle’s brother who wasn't a man.

There are a million things wrong with gendered roles and gender stereotypes. Here's just one of those.

#afropoetry

Nuerkey_Narh💞