Storybook Tale
I had never lead a good life
Grief and despair always followed me and eloped me in its tightening embrace
Surrounded in a storybook world, i was bound for the optimal role
The role to which my mother, my grandmother, my great-grandmother and all the greats after her endured
I was bound for the worst role of them all: the villain
Growing up, I followed all the rules I was given
And carried them on my shoulders like burdens
Heavy burdens
Heavy burdens that kept me tied and shackled and staring in the only reality I would ever know
When men saw me, they didn’t see degrees and hard work and value
They saw cheap meat dangling on a stick for them to devour
In high school, my smarts never mattered over the amount of cleavage I could show for an A +
In college, attending parties was just as dangerous as walking to class because the next misstep could result you drugged, injured, even dead
I have no crime rather than trying to live as a women in this world
With grace and integrity I have pushed past everything ainst and they still find ways to hold me back
To them I am defenseless, worthless, vulnerable
I have no crime but the jury still finds me guilty and I am a prisoner of my cruel horrible fate
And as I look in the book of the living
I have found all those women who have received condemnation
Cyntoia Brown, Sara Kruzan, Chrystal Kizer, Pieper Lewis, and my mother, and her mother, and all the women who came before them
But im tired for paying for the broken dishes of those who suffer from hero complex
They could only see how much sex I was good enough for or how tight my skirt could be
I am tired of living like a humanless villain as they take away my freedom
I am reclaiming back my freedom and rewritiing this story
Im taking the pen in my hand and erasing this narrative and write the words of strength and determination of who I am
Of who we are
And we are not backing down
You will hear us chanting on the streets and filling every room
Until you hear us
Because we were never villains of this tale
But if you so desperately want us too
Then beware because we will wreck your world until we fit in it
And create out storybook ending
Copyright © April Detriot | Year Posted 2023
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