I speak as a mother
And I have something to say
To those of you who mother
I have something to say to the 85 Million other Mamas in America
Especially to those
who were told
as children,
“Be nice.
Don’t interrupt.”
That talking loud
is rude.
To those who
got excited in school
and spoke out of turn
to tell teacher
“I know the answer.”
but who were told
“nice girls don’t interrupt.”
To those who had built
a beautiful tower
with all the blocks,
When someone came
to knock your tower down
you shouted,”NO!”
Only to be scolded.
Because,
girls don’t shout.
Nice girls share.
Share the blocks.
Make yourself want less.
Share your space.
Make yourself small.
One day,
share your body.
By then,
you won’t remember how
to say no.
Maybe you were like me
and liked to build forts,
and make war
at recess.
But,
“nice girls don’t play at war.”
So, I built one last fortress
around the word no,
around my loudness,
around my anger.
And I was able
to make myself small
small inside,
inside my fort,
until the day
I became a mother.
Dear
85 million pissed off mamas,
it’s time
to call out the hypocrisy.
It’s time
to acknowledge our anger,
And that together our voices are louder than money.
We can roar louder,
louder than those
who treat our constitution
as exploitable
and our children as expendable.
It’s time to call out
not just injustice,
but inaction.
It’s time to cry out,
to stand up,
to be as brave as our children
have been forced
To be
to be the mama
who
won’t let
one more child
be shot in a school.
It’s time
for us to flip the tables
to run swinging a whip,
to run with a warriors cry,
85 million strong
sweeping through
the halls of our capital
and get those Pharisees out.
Get out
Get out
Get out
get the money
out of the temple
