One Piece At A Time

You know the world is broken

When a brother, 3 and a sister, 6 watch their fathers hands grab their mother by the hair

And drag her across the hallway floor

And as their mother's screams hit their ears

The only thought that hits their head

Is, what will the babysitter think?

I knew the world was broken

When, at 13, a male friend of mine told my best friend and I

that we were the only two girls in our class

attractive enough to be raped

He meant it as a compliment

You know the world is broken

When you have to 'raise' your brother a feminist

Because there is no class that teaches us that the idea of treating everyone equally is not a controversial issue

No class that talks about what needs to be talked about

And when it does,

Boys are asked to wait outside the room

You know the world broke you,

When the only man you have ever loved

Walks in and out of you

As he pleases

For years

And you still haven't told him

That you're not an open doorway but a drawbridge

That your body is not a castle everyone can enter

I still haven't told the world

That a 200 year old law on a piece of paper

Will not govern who I fuck

That who I love

Is nobody's business but my own

The world is broken

But we will fix it

One piece at a time