Just Another Obdurate Woman

Just Another Obdurate Woman

2/10/2022

Leah Stone

I'm too honest, too hard to keep;

I'm not pretty enough

for such effort to be poured into me.

My temperament is not hesitant,

and my intellect is too prominent.

Is there anything else I'm missing?

There is ink beneath my skin,

Jewelry piercing a hole in my lip;

Perhaps you think I'm too masculine,

because my voice does not waver

when I speak my opinion.

Are you scared of a woman who will not listen?

Attack what you will, it won't make a difference;

Society will not tell me who I can and cannot be.

I have been silenced for long enough,

shamed into a reticent belief,

but you will not force me to be weak.

Can't you open your mind to see?

Never will I conform to who you think I should be.