Ladylike

“The standards have been doubled.

Tripled even…”

Shajuana Henry

The standards have been doubled
Tripled even…
And she knows the feeling precisely
of having the world that weighs her down
telling her how to carry herself

We don’t love a strong woman.
We love testing her strength,
in quest of her threshold.
The point in which she decides against holding herself together
Instead she brandishes her lady parts in the face of men
who could never find her trauma worthy of addressing
Let alone worthy of relieving

Laying claim to her own body,
she subverts the gaze
Brings her own seat to the table
And lets the world know, with authority,
That she will power through