Call me butch or call me a dyke,
Call me a muff diver, if you like.
I eat whipped cream because I can,
So why is my life defined by a man
And do you care if I don’t or I do?
You want to know if I will do you.
Your language is my living hell;
Your words encase me in your shell.
A gal, a lady, a broad, a chick?
You get to decide because of your dick.
“Intelligent woman” is not on the table;
It can’t be that simple, I need a label.
So if I want to sell my ass
Over lobster dinner and a wine glass,
Your glance defines me as a whore.
Subtleties don’t matter any more.
At the risk of making it more complex,
Know I can match you when it comes to sex
But when there are times I don’t give a shit,
You should learn to deal with it.
You’d sell your soul in pursuit of a dream
(Status, power, a money-making scheme),
Squander your body on a physical whim.
We don’t judge it the same if its her or its him.
My line of work, the games I play,
Are measured by how far I stray
From your conceit. When I cross the line,
The fault is absolutely mine.
The person that I choose to be
Your selfish eyes refuse to see.
If I do not keep my place,
Will your fist defile my face?
My pay scale is your dollar’s fraction.
My gains become your ego’s subtraction.
Your kids are in my custody
As if power means no responsibility.
When I am alone I am not with you–
Another way of saying that what I do
By definition is not about me.
“Man” is in “woman,” “he” is in “she.”
Sweepy Jean and Sweepy Jean Explores the (Webby) World, 2010.
Sweepy Jean Explores the (Webby) World 
Comments on: "Words" (7)
Very nice! I enjoy the rawness of your words.
Holy crap. Just…WOW. That was powerful. It hit me right in the stomach with truth, and beauty. You amaze me, Sweepy. WOW
I love it. This is the real gender problem that needs to be challenged! If you accept the label you’ll never be rid of it. I like that you use the “Fraction.” That’s exactly it. Keep it up!
Corbeaurouge (welcome!), Lisa, and Brent: Thank you all for your comments and kind words. They mean more to me than you know.
I’ll thank you to give me my brain back now, Sweepy! It’s like you climbed into my head and took the words outta my mouth!
I’m going to print this out and hang it in my home office. I LOVE this poem. If I had the gift of poetry, I could’ve written it myself at one time. . . it’s like we’re related or something . . .
Good, strong and to the mother grabbing point!! I don’t know of a woman who hasn’t felt, thought or said things like this at one point or another. . . when did you write this? And what inspired you to write it?
sometimes I feel like I’ve lost touch with my former feminist self. . .and then someone like you comes along to remind me that my inner feminist still lives. . .hey, thanx for that!
No matter how rough or truthful your poem sounds, I can feel very soft soul within you. I think that makes your poems really powerful. I hope more people read your poems. Thank you.
Thank you so much Minx, this was started in 2009 and I’m still tweaking it! I just feel these are sentiments not explored much in poetry and need to be said more often anyway!
Lina, thank you for your encouraging comments. I’m so happy you found my blog. I hope more people read them, too! 🙂