Today's poem is Name the Subject by Jieen Zhen. It is read by Julia Bouwsma.
Name the Subject
As a woman,
Why can’t I feel safe on my own street?
As a woman,
Why can’t I feel safe in my house?
As a woman,
Why does my clothing become a weapon that turns on me?
As a woman,
Why does the tone of my voice become a rope that strangles me?
I ask the teacher.
Thee can't walk alone Thee can't travel alone
A woman is a cause
The effect is caused by her by whom?
By whom? I ask the teacher
Be careful out there You stop your sentence Be careful of whom?
I ask the teacher.
As if eyes watch wherever whenever with whomever I talk, I sleep, I stand, I walk, I run, I hide,
None of my acts can intervene
As a woman,
Why would I be condemned for walking alone at night? The night is not an issue.
Alone is not an issue
Protect thyself is not an issue
A woman is a verb in the passive voice Prepositions are oftentimes omitted
Unnoticed because passive is weak
An object focused upon
But a woman can be an active voice
I said.
They are going to eliminate all the subjects from the street, the teacher said
You make the street sounds malicious; A subject is in any place-
A home, a neighborhood
Every sentence must have a verb,
But they blamed the object.
Thus, no sentence to the subject
While the protagonist is not me-
A woman is a passive voice-
Who is the subject in the active voice? Who writes the verb?
Who?