Manifesto

Deprivation of my rights and freedom Bodily autonomy, tossed out of a terrace window, seventy-third floor of a building in New York that touches the same ground I walk on, yet reaches much higher than I could ever imagine. I scream to them, giant politicians, but the shadow of their business loafers overhead scare the sound from my pursed lips. My individuality exchanged for a man’s practicality; it seems as though they've had their fun suppressing us Toying with my consciousness like a cat praying on a field mouse, so innocent. They say: so innocent! Could I be, too? or shall I wear my curiosity like a garment, like an oddity for men to squint at, confine my mind and bones to the idea that women shouldn’t bare the decision of what lives within; shackles on my reproductive organs dig into my skin like the words they spew from hot mouths, pouring into the laps of women, alphabet soup spelling, “no more”. Let us breathe in the possibility of respect and dignity, the promise of true liberty and justice for all. Far too powerful, they fear, women are.