Best Patriarchy Poems
I hate the patriarchy
I hate that men have control over my body
I hate how I have to walk around the city knowing that being pretty is a justification for rape
And I hate that I have to always try and counter that by looking down
Not making eye contact
I hate that I have to act ashamed because some men think confidence is permission
I hate that if all my efforts fail it’s illegal for me to have autonomy in a decision that would change my life
I hate that even though men have no idea how it feels to live in fear they have the power to make fear my reality
They have the power to make fear all I know
They have the power to take my life from me
I hate that when they say they want to save “unborn children”
They mean they don’t want me to have a choice
But when the child is born, they won’t help pay for their food
They shame for struggling when money isn’t available
They shame teen mothers even when the mother was only walking home after a long day of school, when the mother never wanted anything to do with them
And they say it was the girl’s fault because her “clothes showed too much skin” and because “she looked at me, so I thought it was okay” and because “she never said no”
How could she say no
She was scared to fight back
Because in the patriarchy, a woman is a tool
A woman is not her own person
A woman can’t make her own decisions
Because she is not valued
I am used and I know it every day
I am 15 and I already worry because I know this could be me
I am 15 and I worry that my little sister’s life could be ruined because she doesn’t get to choose
I am 15 and I worry about all my friends and my classmates and every girl and woman who has to live with the same fear I do
I am 15 and I know that while this is my reality now, this won’t be my reality forever
I am 15 and I am ready for something to change
CONQUERING THE BLIND SCALES OF PATRIARCHY
Crystal cold are the pupils of some men
staring red to jailed porcelain dolls skin
dowered for the title of chastity,
your curves, your swell, they treated like machines.
You can be the light midst darkness, woman
yet why they see your body as gold mines,
your face displays no favor from their sight.
Fruits of labor you bring harvest nothing
your virginal flesh dead ere blossoming
suspended by sharp claws of ignorance?
Aged with grief but rising from conquered fears,
woman today shake white-walled home of kings
to trumpet-loud the darkness in her feet...
Wounded is her heart but still she will stand,
her message free flying high without wings
She will fight even with the threats of death
balancing blind scales of patriarchy,
Fears foregone, her bravery stifling pain,
peace and justice, equality to all
the rights for women her ever after toil!
______________________________________________________
Patriarchy - Poetry Contest
Sponsor Name - Thomas Martin
~~Placed 1st~~~
Olive Eloisa Guillermo
10:41 pm, July 16, 2015
As fathers go, I used to say, I thought he was alright
took the work wherever he could and kept our fire alight.
Brylcreem hair , good muscle tone, a boxer's solid build
army tour in Burma where his discipline was drilled
his right and wrong were black and white, he clearly drew the line
step beyond, by God you knew it- otherwise, you're fine.
Skilled with hands to sketch and whittle, genius with a saw
and musical- Harmonica (Sunday evenings) at his jaw.
But as years passed there came the cloud which we had all been fearing
lungs and heart all damaged from industrial engineering.
Powerless, no air nor strength, a pallor greyish-blue
from bed to armchair, back again was all that he could do.
The rules now changed, they had to, as to what the future be
so life played spin the bottle, and the bottle stopped at me.
Carrying the gasping shell with all the strength I had
fate's wind had turned the weathervane and boy became the dad.
Until that August, '81 , time off for good behaviour
final release and went in peace through the mercy of the Saviour.
I stood outside and cried and cried , my only words were 'Dad',
the weathervane took pity and blew back, and kissed the lad.
For competition 'Patriarchy' by Thomas Martin
14th July 2015
He ruled his kingdom with an iron fist
all looked up to the earl of otherworld.
Women sighed over his handsome face,
his manly stature and his sense of humour.
His heir and son was cultivated and charming.
Yet the earl's wife was a fiery woman of red hair
with an hourglass figure she tempted and teased.
He was putty in her hands when she flirted.
His warriors would follow him to certain death
such was their trust in his leadership and skills.
His earldom was both strong and rich in arts,
jewels with bounteous harvests of fruit and grains.
His once many enemies were now scattered and few.
He gazed out over his kingdom and knew with certainty
that all was ready for the day he was no more
that his son would carry on capably in his footsteps.
He knew he would be remembered with relevance
that many would mourn his Rite of Passage
after all he was the patrician all he beheld
and he ruled all with wisdom and strength.
written 07/17/2015
contest Patriarchy
I am the grass
on a windy day,
held back
by its own roots.
i am a horse
with blinders on its eyes,
you use me
to feel powerful.
and i connive
to the fiction
that you are stronger,
better.
because of you
i think about the length of my dress
and nod when they say
i should talk less.
and I accept
the suffering
because I know
you suffer too.
I remember,
you use to like dolls
when you were young
and innocent.
you use to
not cry secretly
away from the eye
like you do now.
then why am I
the only one fighting?
it is not a battle of the sexes,
after all.
so i declare,
I am not powerful like you,
for power is not
domination.
that i am not
the epitome of beauty,
for beauty is not
unrealistic standards.
i am not well mannered
like the aunties,
for manners is not
obedience.
i am, however, a demon
ready to be unleashed,
held back momentarily
by the chains of patriarchy.
A woman can't just walk away from
patriarchy for her power, authority
and privilege has been cast and
woven deeply into its bones. Fathers
are in charge of the family, not for
scientific reasons, only because of
physical power. Children find their
mothers cleaning and cooking are
left alone while mother must work.
Women at the bottom of the scale
sink more deeply into the bottom,
while those who strive in the middle
break legs and arms trying to climb
higher. But, those at the top are very
few and live comfortably striving to
keep the system just as it is.
HEAR ME ROAR….
You think you’re better than me,
Trying to dominate the very soul that created you, protected you
Maybe a century ago you could say men had a say,
Only because we were not allowed to, in the law of tradition not principles,
But not now, not this century we have a voice now,
A say, from all this barbaric confusions and war that is implemented in their heads.
We women fight every day for our freedom, for our right, because at the end of it it’s about equality not victory.
We know you can past us by and we don’t care, At least we can control ourselves But we caught your attention obviously you’re so week, so fickle that only a raise of our dress can make them forget who they really are.
Patriarchy is so evident, you wear a short dress you’re a ****, you have a Tattoo you’re a lesbian
But now we can accomplish the unlimited we can raise the bar and prove them wrong,
There is no limit to success, we have choices ladies, we have freedom and that’s what matters.
The World is at the figure tip no more being treated like a “doormat” we have “rights”.
Do we really want that patriarchy,
or all that malarkey with matriarchy?
What we need are guys and gals,
gals and gals and guys and guys,
who share the task of daily love,
the loving struggle, the daily shove:
But the world’s so foolish, not just a stage,
to jaunt and play on night and day,
whatever “archy” mal, or pat, or mat
we choose, let’s not loose our loving crews.
The village head summoned the meeting
The elders, the sons, the warriors came greeting
Sitting on a round table all eating
Great minds at work in this honorable seating
Talks of hunting errands
Arranged marriages
Scheduled rituals
Protection from rivalry tribes
Flew and grew
With each beer
Pulling up his pants that were almost to the ground
Joining his peers for another round
The boys having all the time, rarely deficient of sound
Boisterous, trivial matters, not ashamed of being loud
Another day of missed responsibilities
Wasted abilities
Occasional crime activities
Where are the fathers, where are the father figures
Society in pieces
Endangered species
Patriarchy contest
7/4/2015
Sponsor: Thomas Martin
Behind Summer's fullness
richness,
nutritional and nurturing sunlight
empowering bounty
Lies another deep
darker sacred truth
of EarthTribe's inevitable mortality,
death
loss
cosmic stress
universal trauma
MonoTheistic distrust,
disaster,
despair
of patriarchal autonomous
lonely at the top
supremacy
MonoPolistic colonizing,
divisive,
aggressive,
violent,
rapacious,
racist,
sexist,
terrorist
climatic pathology
MonoCulturing Straight Western Male
historic white
protagonist light,
choosing win/lose inside voices
over win/win outside choices
is not so healthily bright
Against deep dark green
ecofeminist
co-passionate
co-empathic
co-arising bicameral
panentheistic empowering
harmonic mindful balance,
EarthTribally accessible
democratic co-enlightenment.
PATRIARCHY
We had Fathers.
Distant creatures
beings aware of another dimension
condemned to keep its secrets,
protect us from its presence
for as long as possible.
Solitary creatures – these Fathers,
lone hunters
stealthily disappearing
and re-appearing.
Loud creatures –
snarling at the world,
growling and nipping
at their children
to protect them – from it.
Lonely creatures – these Fathers
prowling foggy dawns,
sunsets flaming condemnation,
weary – yet tirelessly working
to fulfill the needs of a day.
Restless beings – these Fathers
troubled even in sleep
snorting as a tethered stallion
restrained from running,
breathing as if in retreat
from a hunter’s prey.
Warriors – these Fathers
Elders – possessing almost Shamanic skills,
stolid, forbearing - surface calm
roiling in the torment
of their patriarchal duties.
We are Fathers still -
less distant, less secretive,
snarling and growling
at a world we no longer understand
where perception overrides reality.
We will always be Fathers
distant, solitary, lonely creatures
Warrior elders awaiting fate’s transition,
watching sons - become men – become Fathers.
John G. Lawless
7/8/2015
not submitted to the Patriarchy Poetry Contest as it is over 20 lines
EarthMother grows impatient,
despite her curiosity driven
cooperative inviting polyculture
reconnection with SunFather's Great White
monotheistic climate
of Patriarchal-Capitalist classroom activity
RightHand saluting
salutary competitions.
Your historic move,
S/He dissonantly
defiantly intones,
from sacred polytheistic peak experiences,
inherently dipolar co-arising,
not monotheistic judgments
punishing bipolar sick people
for manic/depressive original sinning
Missing win/win marks
is also a monoculturing move
away from sacred arts and scientific
metaphysical traditions
favoring polycultural communion
fueling resiliently cooperative health care
systems
networks
creolizing organizations
synergetic incorporations
Swimming
and floating
and flowing
and flowering
Indigenous Wisdom
more accessible
and engaging
and attractively organic
than a mere secularizing staid set
of Patriarchal-Capitalist
win/lose survival of the strongest dogmas
resisting sharing wealth
Outside your monotheistic
dualistic secular v sacred dividing
bipolar nature v spirit
as body v mind dissonance
Rooting in traumatic win/lose
zero-sum
closed entropic lose/lose despair
Degenerative despondence
loss
stress
trauma
predicting cosmic existential
climate dopesick anxiety
Wrote EarthMother's neurosensory
bilateral systemic theology
for multiculturing
metaphysical review
Win/win re-connecting
inter-religious panentheistic
empowering incursions
into WHoly Nature/Spirited
Enthymematically enlightening
health is positive wealth
less frightening
physical/metaphysical resonance
eco/theo-logical excursions
toward health/wealthing polycultural resilience
Noticing
when we come together
toward health care giving
and receiving fair wealth share,
One organism's health religion
is another's multicultural wealth
of co-empathic conscience.
When Heard dared to question her partner,
men suited up in outraged armour.
Battling patriarchy,
this ‘feminist’ malarkey,
makes women prey and men the archer.
daddy long legs spinning its' web from the ceiling
8 legs of terror, to 8 years of life as a kid.
monster under the bed hurry,
big terrible eyes, gleaming at me from the dark unknown corner.
go wake your mother from her slumber, Dad must rest.
modern fear is 17
dead in parkland at the hands of
a madman, yet mental illness should not be the
cause of FEAR.
Fear, fear, fear,
what do I - a young girl have to fear?
sexual assault, being told I
lack authority because I am a female.
Do not! shrink the power of my gender identity, I do not fear the tall white men who believe their distress
must stay hidden beneath their black engulfing suits
whispering degrading slurs about our temples-our bodies
because fear is weakness, and what is weakness if not a delicate flower ripped from its deep roots in the soil?
weakness is not the white man!
the all-consuming, terror-inducing mastermind
behind fear is you.
Only you allow yourself to be afraid
when we find enough strength in love and hope,
nothing will hold us back
-Katherine Beth
It is good to know what we resist,
but my best way of knowing
is by self and other showing
what we together
would more health wealthily
assist.
You might assume
the only way to effectively resist patriarchalism
is to fight.
Turns out,
fighting may be the surest way
to already have lost the battle,
and to continue losing
an ecofeminist war.
You might think the only possible way to win
is if all other players lose,
but what, then,
have we the OnePercent gained
toward healthy resilience
and safe peace on Earth?
You might assume the only way to gain power
is to compete
with surpassing strength
for economic and political victory.
I might guess another way to empower
is to cooperate
for healthier
sustainable flow-with
empowering enlightenment
more resonant in compassionate relationships
than suspiciously lacking robust
interdependent
communication networks.
As for patriarchalism,
probably far more erectile dysfunction
is the result of intentional economic neglect
than vindictive political abuse
and threats of war-mongering.
Experiential peace and beauty
and truth and trust messages
trying to break through LeftHemispheres
fascinated,
sometimes mystified,
by enigmatic
elliptical
sacred words,
scriptures,
messages
deep pre-historic passion feelings
Preferring win/win climate health Paradise
over win/lose ego/ecologically pathological risks,
chronically dissonant cognitive minds
at war with affective body issue
nerve tissues
bipolar stressed
As processed by Either/Or LeftHemisphere
dominantly StraightWhite monocultural
patriarchal not-listening
jumping to deduction
reductions
not able to hear inductive WholeEarth
interdependent EarthMother ReCreation,
over the sound and constant lights
of fossil-fueled degenerating
militantly industrialized
colonizing
bad karma energy
Instead,
our co-investments
in cooperative wealth systems
restore multicultural EarthJustice
AND
restory Earth's green peace
ecofeminist narrative
In which
we too often assume
the only way to effectively resist patriarchalism
is to fight.