Refusing To Exist Quietly 

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I am from a community of women

who refuse to wilt like dying flowers,

who braid ropes from their body hair

and use it to pull each other up

I am from a community of women who rise

with the resilience of their thighs

Thighs that are strong enough

to crush mirrors and inspire poems,

thighs that double as

book holders, plate holders

and later hold lovers, or others

or whoever they want to

Thighs that know womanhood

is not defined between them

that femininity is not fragility

and a vagina is not a verdict

because biology is a highway

that doesn’t intersect with identity

I am from a community

who protest their own politics,

who dance without music

and sing without stigma

Who raise their voices like

rainbow flags, and forget how to fear

Maddie Godfrey

Image:- David Cox

For more of Maddie’s work, click here to head to her Facebook page.