We are not born to footnotes

We were not born to be footnotes

In the biographies of men.

We were not born to be the "before"

In someone else's "and then."

They taught us to whisper our dreams

So they would not wake the house.

They taught us to fold our maps

Into the shape of a spouse.

They gave us Laurel Wreaths at seventeen

For surviving the wars we did not start.

They called it "honor." We called it

The tax on having a heart.

They built us a price list:

One degree = One dowry.

One passport = One permission.

One "no" = One sorry.

But we found the error in their math.

We were never the remainder.

We were the whole number they forgot

To carry forward in their calendar.

So we stopped asking, "May I?"

We started answering, "I will."

We turned "hideous life" into "I have this life"

And paid the tuition with skill.

We are not "empowered." That word is weak.

It sounds like someone gave us power.

We were born with it. Like bones. Like blood.

You just buried it under "flower."

Dig us up. You will find

We are not petals. We are earthquakes.

We are not whispers. We are the trumpets

That teach the dead how to wake.

Our Heaps of Red are not graves.

They are gardens. We planted fury.

And what grew was not revenge.

What grew was Bologna. Was UCL. Was free.

So update your dictionaries:

"Woman" is not a synonym for "wait."

"Girl" is not a placeholder for "fate."

We are the verb. We are the gate.

We are the country. We are the state.

You said the future was male.

Check again. The future is mail.

An acceptance letter. A visa. A flight.

Addressed to: Us. From: Our own right.