liberal woman | poem
poetry
liberal woman
last night you said hurtful things
about how I have grown resentful
about your go away choices.
when emotional and underwhelmed
your words invade like wind
consumed by gull cries
on stormy days.
last night, you spoke over me
until my voice drowned out,
waves swallow up other waves.
there was no shore we could swim to
once you admitted
that your friendship issues
belong to my being less social
than you.
last night you reminded me
quite eloquently, actually
why I am difficult.
this exchange took us back
to a time
when we would argue, in public
over how you or I choose
to go on.
last night you asked me
what my problem really was
and told me with your cat eyes
how tired you had become
of missing
out on doing things
away from reluctance.
verbal interjections said less
about understanding one another.
I mention we were warmer
on winter days, months before
when there was less going on.
last night you spoke of the other
adventures you missed out on
with old friends, humans without
the common presence
of another man or woman
in their hectic lives.
friends who sleep alone with free time
occasional bad choices,
got us both hot.
last night us became you and me
over late night
misunderstandings that belong
to a liberation formed
miles from my coastline
years before I knew who you were.
after a long call
with a feminist friend
you suggested I have become a social problem,
considered aloud if you should go
away some more through a summer
full of possibilities that belong
to a life
long before us.
So much punch and keen observation in this verbal tango. It's quite a thing to write about difficult things like this, and draw others into your shoes. I wrote a different version of same here;
https://open.substack.com/pub/theseainme/p/unsilenced?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=46rss