WUNRN
Poem by Julie Raymond
"I incorporated the spelling AFRIKA into my poem as a way of honoring the
individual, the traditions, the being of individual women. To remind
myself that Africa is a far away place for me, but Afrika is a place women call
home."
There’s Something I
Know About You.
Today, I wept for the women of
Afrika.
I heard what
they are doing to you.
The news
channel told me.
The atrocity
cut my heart open.
I bleed it onto this
page
because
I grieve for your
pain.
The suffering
of your children.
The
denigration of your bodies.
The control of your
choices.
I am
enraged!
Women raped.
Women without guns.
Women tortured en
mass.
Women
taken.
As if your bodies were
territory.
As if your
bodies were not living.
As if your
bodies were not our own.
As if they have the power to deprive you of your
will.
I want to help.
I want to help stop your
suffering.
I want you to
smile.
I want you to
thrive.
I want you to
live without fear.
What do you want?
The gang of them
point a gun at your face
and require
submission
or your
life.
The gang of them
beat you with rifle butts
when they are
done.
Raping isn't
enough.
The gang of them
has not the
courage
of
one woman
who chooses to go
on.
LOVING.
The men who did this may think it’s a holy
act.
The men who
did this may think it’s an act of God.
The men who did this may think it’s their
right.
But there’s
something about you
something they
don’t know
something they
couldn't’t possibly perceive
something we have in
common.
I whisper it to you
now
on the waves,
and the wind,
that will come
to you.
In the
heartbeat of our Mother Earth
the whisper rises
up.
Our ancient mothers call to
us,
they remind
us...
In their turn
they survived
every event of human history.
Every rape, burning, pillaging, beating,
displacement,
starvation,
invasion, political power, torture
and natural
disaster.
Legacy of
strength.
Legacy of
hope.
Legacy of
love.
Sisters.
Collecting firewood,
Collecting
grass for the donkey
Collecting
water where men wait
Perhaps to
spare your husbands life
You go instead.
You go out
among the Gangs of them
So you can
care for what
you
love.
This is the Great Legacy of our ancient
mothers.
The legacy
women carry en mass.
The power to
love and persevere.
Sisters.
There’s something I know about you that they don’t
know.
You are a
strong woman
You are
already free
You were
born holy and remain so to this day!
Your heart belongs to
you.
I have hope that things will
change
I want to help
you
I want to help stop the
suffering.
I want you to
smile.
I want you to
thrive.
I stand with
you.
What do you
want sisters?
And
Tonight
I pray
for my Sisters in
Afrika.
####
Julie
Raymond
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