Tag / feminism

by Carol J Forrester

The Office Bitch

He called her The Office Bitch,

to her face.

Drops the comment like a hot coal

before she climbs into a taxi home

and I turn my car keys over in my hand,

heels sharp on the concrete,

the elastic in my shoulders twisting tighter

as the words sink in.

 

I can’t help but repeat it,

turn the words over in my mouth

the needles of the teeth still there,

as I wonder if he’d of said the same

were she a man.

Would she have had to swallow it,

if she were a man.

Because at worst he would have been

a

bastard.

Not The Office One.

 

dverselogo

I wanted to add another stanza to this but nothing seemed to work so I’m going to sleep on it any maybe come back to this piece another day. In the meantime I’m relatively happy with how it works at the moment. I’d love to hear your feedback though.

by Carol J Forrester

Uncompromising

Uncompromising does not mean unbreakable.

Even the strongest machine

has its fragile components.

When they falter or buckle beneath pressure

the whole thing will grind to a halt,

until someone can come and sift through the metal,

down to the root of the problem.

But us, we cannot wait.

There are too many mountains to climb

for us to wait for our broken parts to be repaired

by other people’s hands.

Instead we have to carry them with us

or learn the best way to tape ourselves together

so that we hold just long enough

to make it to the other side

or past that ceiling that keeps the sun from coming in

and us from breaking out.

Uncompromising does not mean unbreakable,

it means we will put ourselves back together,

return to our feet and carry on forward

no matter how many times we are shattered

or forced to the ground.

It means that though you may not be listening,

we will certainly be heard.

Daily Post: Uncompromising