Tweet
How to See Gravity
Have you ever been the only girl in a class of men?
Eleven peach-fuzzed faces judging your every word
A panel of jurors to pick apart your answer
Part of an elite society with no password
One that you can only join if you piss standing up.
According to Newton, gravity is an invisible force
But Newton was a man
He could not see the waves of prejudice and bias,
Misogyny and sexism wake up the eyes of all those in his presence.
See, when I forgot to mention that gravity
Pulled down with a strength of 9.80665
Those eleven, baby-faced jurors
Stared at me as if I were a serial killer
Pleading innocence with the knife in my hand
And my palms still red with the blood of a fresh victim.
See, I thought men knew how gravity works
Since it's a weapon you've been abusing
To hold us down and leave our spirits with a good bruising.
Ain't that the logic those high-flying politicians like to use
If a woman doesn't want to get pregnant with her rapist's baby, the sperm will be drawn out of her uterus by the force of gravity and God.
If the power of gravity increases with mass
Then a preggo will pull our company into the dirt
With the addition of her baby and the extra fat on her ass
See, I thought men understood
That enough had seen their mothers and sisters
Have to fight that much harder
To pull themselves up: rung by rung
Careful that every flick of their tongue
Would strike the perfect equilibrium
Between flying, but not an inch above a man.
See, when you, a man, enter a room
The world morphs and expands so you can take up more space
People take your words with more weight
Nobody tells you to check your place
See, when you step out of your prescribed orbital
Society does not deem you a bitch.
See, you are never the first man to beat a man
You are always the first, period.
See, you walk on the moon
But I live on Earth.
Where I am oppressed
Where I am silenced
Where I am:
A Woman.
Eleven peach-fuzzed faces judging your every word
A panel of jurors to pick apart your answer
Part of an elite society with no password
One that you can only join if you piss standing up.
According to Newton, gravity is an invisible force
But Newton was a man
He could not see the waves of prejudice and bias,
Misogyny and sexism wake up the eyes of all those in his presence.
See, when I forgot to mention that gravity
Pulled down with a strength of 9.80665
Those eleven, baby-faced jurors
Stared at me as if I were a serial killer
Pleading innocence with the knife in my hand
And my palms still red with the blood of a fresh victim.
See, I thought men knew how gravity works
Since it's a weapon you've been abusing
To hold us down and leave our spirits with a good bruising.
Ain't that the logic those high-flying politicians like to use
If a woman doesn't want to get pregnant with her rapist's baby, the sperm will be drawn out of her uterus by the force of gravity and God.
If the power of gravity increases with mass
Then a preggo will pull our company into the dirt
With the addition of her baby and the extra fat on her ass
See, I thought men understood
That enough had seen their mothers and sisters
Have to fight that much harder
To pull themselves up: rung by rung
Careful that every flick of their tongue
Would strike the perfect equilibrium
Between flying, but not an inch above a man.
See, when you, a man, enter a room
The world morphs and expands so you can take up more space
People take your words with more weight
Nobody tells you to check your place
See, when you step out of your prescribed orbital
Society does not deem you a bitch.
See, you are never the first man to beat a man
You are always the first, period.
See, you walk on the moon
But I live on Earth.
Where I am oppressed
Where I am silenced
Where I am:
A Woman.