LISTEN

by Lisa Kusel

I am not a woman,

invisible

I am women,

indivisible.

I have a face, although you don't

see my face. 

"Look at me when I'm talking to you."

I have a face.

I have a voice.

Hear me roar. Better yet, come 

closer

and hear me whisper. For my screams

you blithely ignore, as though they are

inconsequential laments from a baby

not your own.

Okay.

It will be my whispers then;

the runty sounds 

that turn inside my head

like a Ferris wheel in the distant dark.

Whispers shall carry us through

to the day you stop scorching our souls with the

party-line precepts stowed securely

in your breast pocket.

Your right hand pats them once, twice,

then rests solemnly as you pledge allegiance

to the hatred and subversion you married.

Pat

Pat

I watched as you anchored your beliefs to

this totem of power

this phallus

this fallacy

then chose to back away from the moral ledge.

Whispers

between friends, words spoken through clouds 

of outrage, but uttered nonetheless, shared with 

Marina and Anne, Topaz, Meg, Lori and Susan

Monica and Kelley.

A match has been lit. Held in the

whispers of Jenny and Deby

and Aimee and Judy.

You haven’t heard us yet, have you?

Because we’ve been whispering.

What do you think a million angry whispers

sound like when uttered

in a small wood-paneled room?

Imagine it.

Go ahead.

A whisper from one woman who spoke her truth

should have been enough

should have been more than enough

to set your world ablaze.

No matter.

We are here now, full, on fire,

ready to burn down your injustices like

flames ripping through fields of drought-dried wheat.

We’re here now

whispering amongst ourselves.

Listen.

* * * * *

"Listen" first appeard on Lisa Kusel's blog on October 8, 2018.

Lisa Kusel is the author of the recently-released Rash, A Memoir, about running away to Bali, as well as two previous works of fiction. Her poems and essays have appeared in Zuzu's Petals; The Mondegreen; Women Writers, Women's Books; The Manifest-Station; and Motherly. Follow her on Instagram @lisa_kusel