INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Let everyday be March 8
put it on repeat
make it come back
every 24 hour cycle
and ban the use of calendars
or clocks that would wipe the day
away even for Christmas
or Valentine's Day

Let it be international women's day
this day and tomorrow and any
day after that as we look for
ways to protect ourselves
and our daughters, and the young
sons that some demented person
will hold down and rape
just like they rape our daughters
and make us watch while
they sing, "Come to Jesus, just Now."

Let the day burst through every event
every basketball game
every prom that excites and excludes
the girls who love girls 
every flying soccer ball moment
when the skill of foot to cylinder
would leave us chanting
girls make the world go 'round

let the day be the reason for
a woman to sing in a language
she does not know, to dance
on the soil of a land not hers
to feel safe while she
writes her poetry
to trust the bed to hold her weight
to breathe in the sun and 
exhale its flames

let international women's day
stand out in your mind
let it make you salute
think back over all the
mothers grandmothers
daughters nieces babies
you hurt and let the day
compose a cantata
a hallelujah that will
last, shame devils,

© Valerie Bridgeman
March 8, 2013