Boisterous Blue

My name is Blue

It’s nice to meet you

We’ve met before 

Back in 1919

When you first gave me 

The right to speak my mind

I made a promise, then

To every other Boisterous Blue

To never be silenced. 

We’ve been placated for years

Given the bare minimum

When we could no longer be ignored

We’ve been placated by Seneca and

By the 18th and

By Jeannette Rankin and

By Hoover vacuums and 

By our ballots and

By 1973 we were almost equal

Thank you Norma. 

Throughout my life 

I’ve been told I’m lucky

Lucky to live in the land of the

Legally free.

Lucky to live where

Rapists can walk free

While Cyntoia pays 

Lucky to live where

I can’t make decisions about my body

Because I was asking for it

Lucky to live where

I’m paid less

For working harder

Lucky to be taught

How to not get raped instead of 

Arithmetic. 

You might see me

And think of submissiveness 

Of a homemaker 

Of a bitch. 

Think what you will. 

But when I hear my name

I hear the names of 

All before me

I hear 1848 calling amidst 

Emancipation.
I hear Carrie Catt 

Leading her people.
I hear Anita Bryant 

Fighting for what she believes

I hear Harry Reasoner 

Losing his Mrs. to Ms. 

I hear Marsha Johnson 

Her heels marching at Stonewall. 

We’ve been dismissed 

For decades

Ignored by a society

That beat us into submissiveness

We’ve been killed for our voices

Slewn across kitchen floors and

Politically hanged

We’ve been burned at the stake

For expressing freedom

We’ve been laughed at

Mocked

Ridiculed

Insulted

Centuries of invective 

Centuries of shame and guilt

For demanding basic human rights

Buried by

Rightful anger 

Through which we’ve achieved acknowledgement 

So thank you

To every man who has told us no

To every man who wouldn’t “take no for an answer” 

To every teacher who molded us into better wives

To every mother who sold our intelligence for Hoover vacuums

To every father who let us dream, but only in the kitchen

To Alabama who won’t let us decide for ourselves. 

For every comment about our beauty

For every cat-call hurled from across the threet

For every back-alley abortion

For every shameful night we can’t talk of

For every liberating night we can’t talk of 

For every voice who stood up for us 

For every voice who diminished us

Thank you for these opportunities

To prove ourselves. 

Thank you Lady Deborah and Anne 

Thank you Abigail and Lucretia 

Thank you Susan and Elizabeth

Thank you Sojourner and Dorothea

Thank you Eleanor and Amelia and Rosa and Marsha and

Gloria and Maya and Sandra and Michelle and

Never shall we be silenced. 

Never shall we be condemned.

Never shall we be placated.

We shall overcome.