Too Much of a Woman

I am too much of a woman to fold myself into polite corners to stay quiet while you rewrite my worth

to bend my back when the world weighs on it

to let the cracks in my bones stay unnoticed

I am the first to arrive and the last to leave,

The one who carries everyone’s burdens and forgets her own

The one who sweeps floors, folds laundry, reads reports,navigates meetings, listens to complaints

Who apologizes for being tired and for existingI am the woman whose ideas are stolen and claimed as someone else’s

Whose voice is interrupted, whose hand is overlooked

Whose labor is measured in cents, whose effort is invisible

Whose worth is questioned, whose body is critiqued

Whose anger is a problem, whose desire is dangerous

Whose love is too much, whose power is too loud.

I am the daughter who hides bruises so no one will shame her

The sister who defends her sibling even at her own cost

The mother who counts every coin

Who prays that the world does not crush the small dreams she carries

Who works, who hopes, who bends, who breaks but keeps going because there is no other choice but to be fierce.

I am the woman who laughs at jokes meant to hurtWho grits her teeth at the sideways glance, the whispered insult

The eye that rolls, the word that bites

The hands that try to keep her in place

I am too much of a woman to be polite and dim my light

I love too loudly, cry too easily, laugh too freely, and fight hard

I dream too wide and burn too bright

I am the storm in the office, the heat in the kitchen

The pulse in the street, the voice in the court

The insistence of existence when they say I should vanish

The rising and shining all in one body, all in one mind

I walk the world like it belongs to me and laugh in their faces because my joy is mine

I will be uncontainable.

I am the weight of all women who came before me, the pulse of all women who will come after

The fire in their hands, the light in their eyes

The song that refuses to end

The story that will not be erased

The brilliance that cannot be dimmed

I am too much of a woman

I am every woman.

Author: Marce Nefechi

Style: Lyrical/Declarative