Magnolia

It is International Women's Day.

I want to be making work about women, celebrating women, empowering women.

And I'm trying. I really am.

But this is what I have right now.

A poem.

Magnolia is sleeping

Breath like whispers in the sun

Tiny ribcage rise and fall

Amidst the white noise hum

Snow gums brush the windows

The evening air is calm

Magnolia is sleeping

Soft and warm and safe from harm

Magnolia is sleeping

And I listen for the door

Will the wolf come a-knocking?

Hunters? Princes? Trolls galore?

For deep within the forest

I hear the witches warning

Keep her safe, guard her well,

Stay your post until the morning.

I think of those we failed

Aiia, Nikita, Eurydice, Jill,

How we thought them to be safe

Yet men still came in for the kill

The folklore rule “stick to the path”

Does not seem to apply

For sisters, daughters, girlfriends, wives,

Keep to our streets

And still they seem to die

And the anger boils within me

At the unfairness of it all

Because Magnolia is sleeping

Trusting

Unaware

Of how the mighty fall

Every time this happens

We cry out and roar with rage

And I watch as men around me

Look away and disengage

For fear they lose their power

That the finger may point at them

And from the ash and rubble

We hear the whimper “not all men”

Somehow all the lives destroyed

Get pushed out of the spotlight

Drowned out by petty bickering

Echoing through this eternal night.

It’s not a “scary time for men”

It’s a simple call for respect

For without equality

How can we strive to protect?

I want to tell Magnolia

That she is free to roam

Run, and play, and learn, and laugh,

And still return safely home.

Magnolia is sleeping

Dark shadows of gum trees

Engulf us in this safe cocoon

And I wish that time would freeze.