people say the devil has a sharp tongue
 well maybe
 the devil is just a woman with wit
 that sharpens the sword of her tongue
 and writes with a crystal ball point pen
 that must be what they thought in Salem
 when witchcraft was a more reasonable excuse
 than god creating woman with a brain
 when all she came from
 was the rib of Adam
 written by man

 maturity
 is looking at your hero
 and seeing why people don’t like her
 and understanding
 that what people don’t like
 is exactly what you admire
 and exactly what makes you alike
 and realizing
 if you respect your hero
 for the reasons people tear her down
 then you can love yourself
 in the same way 

if you’re a woman who says it’s easier
 to have daughters than sons
 let me ask you something
  
 is it easier to teach a woman how not to be raped
 than to teach a man
 how to not rape?
  
 I suppose the most difficult medicine to swallow
 is one’s own pride
 and it doesn’t help
 if the rest of the world won’t help you
  
 and either way
 the loss of innocence is difficult to grieve
 but one of those situations
 only acknowledges one’s loss of innocence
  
 some mothers care more about their own healing
 than the healing of their daughters
 but in the end it feels like there’s nothing to fix
 if you can’t see what’s broken
  
 if you’re a woman who says it’s easier
 to have daughters than sons
 I hate you
 but probably not as much as you hate yourself

your chest is the earth
your fingers are the roots

your breath is the air
your mouth is the ocean

your cells are the creatures
and your hair is the jungle
 
you create our own world
your very own universe

 your thoughts are not bad
 just because they don’t like them
 and their god doesn’t like them
 your god
 likes you enough
 just fine
 just the way you are
 who are
 they
 to tell you differently?