THUGWISE CAT

two second class citizens
not part of the inner circle.
But I can’t let her know that
as I’m on the clock
and I’ve got to keep going.
III
Every woman I talk to
has the same tense tone
engendered by vocal cords
paralysed by that atavistic fear
of knowing that something
or someone is after you,
that someone might grab you
and give you a beatdown
like a cow getting poleaxed
before the slaughter.
And none of us will commit;
to congregate is unseemly,
to mention empowerment
a crime. My despair grows
by the hour, as words I used
to take pride in are now
crushed in the silence.
By 3 pm I wish - O..
I wish, for a brief second,
I’d been born a man.
IV
What does it mean
to be a woman in America?
What has it ever meant
to try to be equal
In the land of opportunity
and greed, oppression
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