They met at midday Mothers Daughters Sisters Friends Then the keening started One voice Then five Then all of them Screaming with balled fists Until the rage and grief Became breath itself Heads thrown back Hands holding hands Tears streaming and teeth bared No words They had exhausted words Words were ignored The harm was always buried Deep beneath silence Indifference Choked out by misogyny Patriarchy State sanctioned predators Who never faced accountability For the harm they caused But made sure women were punished For talking about the harm Or defending against the harm One in five Likely more Every woman knows someone If not in their own reflection School Book club Work All women know the entitlement of men Now they were done Done grieving In showers In cars In closets Alone So they came In every town and every city In every country To be seen To be heard To create a sound so deafening The Goddess woke Their rage and grief a clarion Heralding it was time for someone else To finally be afraid
