Like Suffragettes

Once,
we threw ourselves in front
of running horses.
Once, we were
man handled,
by men with whistles,
shiny shoes and hard hats.

Once,
we were cuffed and walked
and thrown in cells
and something was just
so important
we starved ourselves
until they let us go.

We starved ourselves
until we could have
slipped the cells ourselves-
we were so thin.

Once,
we starved ourselves for freedom,
for getting voices heard,
emancipation.

Nowadays,
we have emaciation–
but we have lost the reason why.

We know,
that something’s so important–
some of us would risk death-
but we can’t remember what.
We want acceptance-love.
We think if we’re just
thin enough….

But when we are
so slender
we could slip our bars-
we can’t.

our cells are all we know.
We are like suffragettes.
But we have lost
our map.