This was inspired by an episode from The Odyssey used by Mary Beard in her Women & Power pamphlet. Penelope is told to shut up and get back to her sewing by her own son. Also inspired by the frequent infuriating conversations I have with idiots.
Son-Silenced
Your subduing
Sewed the seeds of
Sanctioned superiority over
Us
The women
Who talk too much
And are too shrill
And need to calm down
And cannot take a joke
And so many faux-woke bros
Think they know
Shake their heads and say
Why did you not cry out?
I call up Margaret Atwood and shout:
“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them.
Women are afraid that men will kill them.”
If this still stirs a smirk (or worse) in some
It means there’s far more work left to be done.
Peace comes dropping slow 