I gotta write again
I gotta fight again
Stand up amidst
These crumbled ruins
Set things straight again

Hand the pen to my soul
Disclose events in full
I gotta tell it like it is

And take my space again

No more hiding out
Succumbed to fear and doubt
I gotta open up my heart

And take flight again

Under covers in tears
Terrorized all these years
I’m jumping out of bed
And taking charge again

Yah I know I’m unique
All the more reason to speak
My voice is here to sing out
I’m ready to shout again

Dancing naked in the surf
I’m reclaiming my turf
And if you fuck with me
I’ll kick your ass again

©2012 by Loolwa Khazzoom. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be copied without author’s permission.

Girl
Got angry
Is angry
Celebrates life
Wants to go running
Through the streets
Yelling

Doesn’t go
Afraid you’ll think
It’s a woman needing help
But you never call the police anyhow
Even when she’s being raped

Girl stays inside
Waiting for the day of salvation
Knows it’s only in her
But still

I don’t go running
Through the streets
Afraid of what’s out there
In the dark of the night
The moonlit night is my salvation
I stay inside

Girl
Wants to dance
Dance around on the moonbeam
Dance laugh yell outside
Like the witch
Flying across the moon
Cackling on her broomstick
Intended for domestic use

Cackling cackling
Laughing lauching
Rejoicing in her freedom
You’d shoot her down
You’d shoot her all down

So I stay inside

@1994 by Loolwa Khazzoom. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be copied without author’s permission.

I get off the ferry
Turn right on 1^st Ave
Because it’s the easiest way
To get to the south side
Without taking the freeway

I turn my head
As I pass the stadium
Know what’s coming
Larger than life size
Images of degraded women
Flashing with bright lights
And when the game gets out
Pounding music

Because here in progressive Seattle
We celebrate men’s strength
With women’s servitude

I want to fire-bomb the building
As I watch families walk down the street
With little girls
The important thing here obviously
The 12^th Man jerseys
Everyone is sporting
Not the fact that we’re collectively raising
Another generation of souls
With distorted notions
Of pleasure and power

Eroticizing slavery
Psychologically manipulating
Presenting it as an aspiration
So that by the time girls turn 12
The mighty mighty 12
It’s self-inflicted

©2018 by Loolwa Khazzoom. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be copied without author’s permission.