Recalcitrant

Perhaps

societal constructs

are the last thing 

that you wish to talk about 

but I have spent

time with cats

and an unflinching gaze

is a powerful tool 

if I am forbidden 

because I am a woman 

to walk in the same spaces

and learn from you

if I am not allowed

to talk about passion 

to talk about the places of fire

the kiln of my creativity 

the womb of my artistic vision

if I am not allowed   

to make the kind of art

that makes the hair 

stand up on your arms 

then we are wasting our time 

together

if we are allowing 

this pogrom  

against half the population 

to continue 

that is unforgivable

and I will keep on

fighting it 

piling the sticks of resentment

into a bundle 

that I drag with me 

through the streets

waiting for the 

right moment 

to start

burning down the city.