Thou Art A Woman

Armed with my college degree

eyes full of dreams

I went to every interview looking crisp.

The beginnings were always the same

and strangely the endings too.

What do you do on weekends?

Are you free for dinner tonight?

Short skirts and tight shirts

make you look bright.

Some were better though

They smiled and nodded at my answers.

I beamed with pride.

But soon the trials would resurface.

What are your plans for marriage?

How long would the maternity leave be?

Will you take a break to raise the child?

We believe in making long term relationship with the employees.

Tired of all the rejections

I approached an old friend

Why don’t you try being a waitress? He said

People love looking at pretty things while they eat.

Thing

The word banged against the walls of my head.

A hot wave of rage shot through my body

Is that what I am?

Determined to excel

I enrolled myself into a graduate school

Two years passed

Recruiters came and left.

But I wasn’t hired.

Why?

The faculty head roared

They wanted me to write for the fashion segment.

What’s wrong with that?

I am not interested.

How come?

Every other girl is.

They try to

Define me

Mould me

Condition me

into a creature of their choice.

They chain me

Refrain me

Beat me

Enslave me.

And

when I try to resist

they call me names.

Slut

Prostitute

Whore

And witch.

They then burn me alive

Laughing at my anguish they declare

‘Thee need to be tamed

Thou art a woman after all’

Published on: https://www.induswomanwriting.com/thou-art-a-woman.html