smalltownbeatnik

One day I’ll give birth to a tiny baby girl 
and when she’s born she’ll scream 
and I’ll tell her to never stop. 

I will kiss her before I lay her down at night 
and will tell her a story so she knows 
how it is and how it must be for her to survive. 

I’ll tell her to set things on fire 
and keep them burning. 
I’ll teach her that fire will not consume her, 
that she must use it. 

I’ll tell her that people must earn the right 
to use her nickname, 
that forced intimacy is an ugly thing. 

I’ll help her to see that she will not find God 
or salvation in a dark brick building 
built by dead men. 

I’ll make sure she always carries a pen 
so she can take down evidence. 
If she has no paper, I’ll teach her to 
write everything down with her tongue, 
write it on her thighs. 

I’ll make her keep reinventing herself and run fast. 
I’ll teach her to write her manifestos 
on cocktail napkins. 
I’ll say she should make men lick her ambition. 
I’ll make her understand that she is worth more 
with her clothes on. 
I’ll teach her to talk hard. 

I’ll tell her that when the words come too fast 
and she has no use for a pen 
that she must quit her job 
run out of the house in her bathrobe, 
leave the door open. 
I’ll teach her to follow the words. 

They will try to make her stay, 
comfort her, let her sleep, bathe her in a television blue glow. 
I will cut her hair, tell her to light the house on fire, 
kill the kittens, 
when nothing is there 
nothing will keep her 
and she is not to be kept. 

I’ll say that everything she has done seen spoken 
has brought her to the here this now. 
This is no time for tenderness, 
no time to stand, waiting for them to find her. 
There are nations within her skin. 
Queendoms come without keys you can carry. 

I’ll teach her that she has an army inside her 
that can save her life. 
I’ll teach her to be whole, to be holy. 
I’ll teach her how to live, 
to be so much that she doesn’t even 
need me anymore. 
I’ll teach her to go quickly and never come back. 
Things get broken fast here. 

I’ll make her stronger 
than I ever was. 

Turned at twenty 
she’ll break into bits of star 
and throw herself against the sky. 

(2006 is an excellent year to disappear) 

I will not let them destroy her life 
the way they destroyed mine. 

I’ll tell her to never forget what they did to you 
and never let them know you remember. 

Never forget what they did to you 
and never let them know you remember. 

Never forget what they did to you 
and never let them know you remember.

(via gatekeeper)