How dare you say I’m not that much

Poem

How dare you say I’m not that much

Of a woman as you thought I was.

 

All I know is survival

I don’t know how to quit

I don’t know what it is like to give up

 

I’ve slept a many a night in darkness

Gone to bed hungry and cried

          When I wasn’t hurting

 

I was beat on, beat down, and laid out

I was mentally molested, physically abused

          And emotionally torn apart

By my father, my mother, my brother, my cousin,

          My stepfather, my stepfather’s friend and

My boyfriends to a degree that you don’t

          Want to know their names, and everyone

Else I don’t care to blame.

 

So when you see me, whether I’m

          Walking high or sunk down low

You better damn well say

          There goes a lady