Slam

to the men who thinks he can steal my words

the other day after i read one of my poems to some friends this cishetero white man

(because, let's face it, it's always the cishetero white men)

came to me and said

"why is it that your poems always are about 

gay rights

women's rights

or mental illness stuff

can't you write about anything other than that?

hmm

let me think

why is it that my poems are always about that?

like why would i want to write about gay rights if everytime i turn the tv on i see that another young queer has been killed by one of their parents after coming out?

Why would i write about gay rights if i shouldn't even get to do that, right? Because obviously bisexuals aren't actually gay just straight people who are confused or experimenting or trying to be cool and

Why

would i write about gay rights

if in 2017 when i pass through a school i still hear boys using faggot as an insult?

If you've spent your whole life making sure that im aware 100% of the time that i am not like you, i'm different.

Well let me tell you, i'm well aware of that and THANK GOD i am different.

Different is special.

Different is brave enough to love who I want.

Cishetero white men, if all you've done since i was born is telling me that who i am is wrong

and that if i choose to act according to what i feel i should keep it inside and please don't kiss your girlfriend here there are kiss and they're sensitive to this kind of..

this kind of what?

love?

don't you ever kiss your wife in front of your child?

or are you afraid that the kids are going to realise as they watch me holding the girl i adore in my arms that she is the love of my life and i respect and worship every inch of her

while you hold your woman like a prize?

Of course i talk about gay rights

and of course i talk about women's rights

How do you want me not to talk about women's rights if it's all i can think about as i step into a dark alley wondering if im gonna get to the other side where the lights are still bright?

if i'm gonna make it alive out of this toxic relationship that i've been dragged to without a warning sing?

How do you want me to not talk about women's rights if every second of day of my life i'm counting the ones i do not have?

No right to take my own body away from your hands, for one

cause you made it very clear that you are the owner of my eyes

and i'm only entitled to put on make up when you like

and when you don't im gonna have to accept if and nod obediently at your "men like women best at natural"

oh yeah? well women like men best when they shut the fuck up

Dear, lovely cishetero white male

im gonna talk about women's rights all i want

i'm going to scream until they are the same as yours

for i cannot bear to log on twitter to find out another trans sister has been left without a job

only for being herself and another girl my age had been raped

in a college campus

and noboy did anything and nobody cares

The words about my rights slide through my throat like the fire of a thousand burnt women that you burned for witches

witch it's actually just another synonymus of bitch

another synonymus of strong and brave and free

another word you use to say "she's getting powerful and that scares me"

sweet cishetero white men

i know you're scared

we're scary

with all of our sings and our marchs and our fundamental rights

i know it scares the shit out of you that i'm claiming my life back

that i can speak about women's rights in every single poem if i want

and you can't

that you get angry when i call you an oppressor and you swear to god you have never even made a rape joke

yeah, but you patronized me about what i can or cannot write about

and you think i didn't see you when you told your date she was going to get fucked in the ass if she didn't start wearing longer skirts

dear white men

yes

i write about menal illness because i never feel safe

and i have had to learn how to always be alert

and you give me anxiety, cishetero white male

when you walk so close to me i fear i'm gonna be the next face on tomorrow's daily slaughterhouse news

and i wonder what picture are they gonna use

and if my mother it's going to cry when she hears i am the girl that has been abused

i'm mentally ill, cishetero white men

and i talk about it a lot

but i shouldn't have to justify myself to you for doing so

i shouldn't even be making this poem

but i had to

it's not my fault you feel threatened

that you hate how i left you bare and showed you that no matter how much you hate it

we are gonna keep coming up here

and be as much mentally ill queer women as we can

and we're gonna keep writing about what you have taken away from us because at least

this

you can't take away