brotherly love, neighbor, they say, overpowers all

daughter of hate, scorn, i don’t fit into my mold

babies are a gift, you tell me, in between hot breaths

product of lust, incest, doesn’t matter, abortion

is a sin, women’s bodies mere receptacles of power, anger

i can’t carry your guilt, but i want to, my womb betrays me

you accuse me of murder, you misogynist, a court full of men

points fingers at me, opposes my wishes, sentences me to 
prison,

i pick up my shattered tray of faults, my cheap tears

bleed no one’s hearts, can i, can i tie my own cord
 around your neck,

fix this masochism, follow you into hell,

you hunt, you break, you roam free, my hymen captures me

and then now you tell me, when the witch chase has ended,

am i being led by the spirit of the stillborn, or the silence of the wound?

© anu mahadev 12.14.17