©2017 Noreen Braman
Because
Because of the priest
who told my mother she was doomed to hell
for a tubal ligation after
life threatening childbirths,
almost leaving
three daughters motherless.
Because of the man
who cornered me in the boathouse
attempting to
remove my clothes while laughing,
knowing my adolescent
self would be too ashamed to tell anyone.
Because of the knife
held to my throat
at the workplace
where I was the only woman on the floor,
working too
fast and making the men “look bad.”
Because of the men in
the office addressed as “Mr.”
while women were addressed by first names,
and paid
significantly less for doing the same job.
Because those same
men felt entitled to grope women in the hallway,
make job security contingent on sexual favors they demanded,
or withheld them to punish your noncompliance.
Because of the insurance
providers holding the key to healthcare
denying treatment for
my children and myself,
until a protracted
fight was engaged.
Because women who
came before me fought so hard to get here
bequeathing me a
country where I can raise my voice,
continuing to demand
that we don’t go backward.
Because it is too
easy to get comfortable
allowing erosion to
do its deadly work,
destroying the
firmament under our feet.
Because the women
that come after me
should never suddenly find themselves
back in the dark
places that exist in cultural memory,
but rather go only forward,
reaching their hands
down to pull other women up,
and with them
humankind as a whole.
©2017 Noreen Braman
