My Anger is a Factory | Entry for @TeamGirlPowa Feminist Fire Poetry Contest
It has been years since I’ve sat down and intentionally written a poem! However, when I read @TeamGirlPowa’s recent contest, Feminist Fire, and was asked to write something by @LimaBeing how could I refuse?
I joined #TeamGirlPowa the first week I joined steemit.
As a woman, it’s important to me to find and support communities of other women. From my time on steemit, I’ve noticed that the majority of SBD and “whale” accounts belong to men. Just like in the real world, steemit is a male dominated platform (that being said, I’ve been lucky enough to come across some incredible men here--guys who have mentored me, supported me, and promoted me)! And yet...I still need spaces that are built by and for women.
In this challenge, #TeamGirlPowa and their founder @Limabeing are asking authors to write poetry based on the theme Feminist Fire.
I was so moved by the theme that I decided to step up my game and write, because this project is shining a light on how regularly women are silenced or overlooked because they are: emotional, hysterical, or too much. Here’s what TGP said in their original challenge post.
One of the most insidious ways women and femmes are silenced is by denying them the right to anger. We are not allowed to be angry. We are told that expressing anger allows our words to be dismissed. We are told that showing anger makes us irrational, and that we will never win equality if we cannot argue calmly and rationally for it.
The rules of the challenge are simple:
- Write a poem expressing the theme feminist fire. Any form of poetry is fine: blank verse, free verse, villanelle, sonnet, rhyming, no rhymes—whatever you like
- Open to people of all genders
- Poems must be your original work!
So without further ado, here we go.
my anger is a factory by @lilyraabe
my anger is a factory
that turns hatred into love
because to let the rage consume you
is to let the darkness in
and i have chosen light
my anger is a factory
countless words and memories
working in unison
to show me the way the world is
a place where who i am
is overlooked
for what i am
a woman
my memories are factory workers
filing memories and moments
apologies and reconnections
broken promises
my anger is a factory
sometimes there is a power outage
and my mind stops producing love
then you might say that
i’m a bitch
i’m dramatic
i’m crazy
i’m hysterical
i’m too much
i’m not enough
my anger is a factory
when the power is out
the darkness sets in
i am sorrow
i am rage
i am vulnerability
then i am alone
and it is up to me
will i be consumed by the darkness?
sometimes.
i’m a factory
made up of steel bits
fixing me is, and is not, as simple as
replacing my parts
oiling my joints
and plugging me back in
my anger is a factory
that turns hatred into love
because to let the rage consume you
is to let the darkness in
and i have chosen light
In this poem I’m writing about the experience of being a woman and needing to constantly manage my emotions.
Sometimes I feel like managing my inner emotional state requires a factory-like precision wherein I can convert my angry, “hot” emotions into more productive pathways. It’s yet another form of emotional labor to undertake in order to present as rational, calm, kind, and gracious whenever possible. This constant balancing act is like walking a tightrope; and when I fall, the darkness is right there ready to meet me.
I don’t want my anger to be silenced, but I also don’t want to live with its constant presence. How do we find the balance between expression, acceptance, and inner peace?
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nice
Thank you so much. :)
Its time to stand up , to say something and be heard! #TeamGirlPowa
Thanks for the support @michellpiala!
poetry is very interesting. keep working
Thanks for stopping by @alhidayat, you’re rad.
Perhaps understanding the intricacies of being a woman with little or no love takes a lifetime but I guess truly loving them makes a man understand how beautiful are they inside out.
That’s a lovely sentiment, thank you so much for stopping by to check this out. :)
Thanks for your entry!
Thanks for the challenge. :)
the poem is great, followed u hoping to see more from you :)
Thank you so much, I appreciate it! :)
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STOPThe balance comes when the anger is recognized, is accepted but it is looked trasformarlo in something by a different energy, if this intensity of the anger transforms in energy to create, the result will be extraordinary, magic, a pure alchemy of the soul. Been charmed with of reading this @lilyraabe
Yes -- I love what you’re saying about transformation happening when anger is channeled into a different energy! I feel anger regularly, I see so many things all around me that make me mad every day, but when I sit in that anger I get really stuck and can’t move forward...it’s like I’m letting the root cause of all that anger win the day! Turning my anger into something else is like a form of resistance to me...and a source of such creative energy! Appreciate you stopping by and your response to this.
@lilyraabe I love your poem, and I also just want to tell you that I am a man who supports gender equality in all contexts. Your pointing out the fact that whales tend to be men is a problem that I see across all of blockchain. It probably makes some sense due to prior stats on which careers men and women tend to choose, but considering everyone doing anything in blockchain is trying to attract mass adoption in one form or another, EVERYONE ought to be working for equality, even if only for their own interest.
Yes! I also think it’s symptomatic of what careers are typically chosen by men and women...and I also think it’s in everyone’s best interest to work for equality! There’s this mantra some of my mentors use which is: we are strengthened by inclusion, and I truly believe that. Appreciate your openness and willingness to claim allyship! :)
this is great, well done @lilyrabbe, we are so many things at so many different times and you captured that beautifully, I loved it xx
Thank you so much! Yea, we are definitely all managing all the pieces all the time. So much work, haha.