Heroic Woman

Heroic Woman

(Inspired by JR’s video Women are Heroes)

Give me your eyes
And I will show you your face
Drawn by lines of laughter
And scars of pain

Give me your mouth
And I will tell your story
Of violence and rape,

Of a brave escape

Your teeth flashing white
like a wild horse rearing up
and bolting into the night

Give me your hands
And I will cover your face
But not the tears
That squeeze through your fingers
Falling at the pace of the poem’s telling

Words welling up from inner darkness
Distress
Despair
Trauma,

Calling forth the horror
Of senseless
Brutal
Suffering

Perpetrated by men.

Mark Edward Fuller (March 2022)