the women are not alright

the women are not alright

we are bleeding out slowly

sacrificed at the alters

of familial love and

corporate subjugation

bandaging ourselves

with false platitudes

serotonin in a bottle

intoxicated disconnect

and I’m here to tell you

the women are not alright

we have stripped ourselves

rolled back our own progress

adapted and reshaped

our lives and our loves

the pivot for survival

has given us whiplash

and right now at this time

the women are not alright

fought for the authority

to do with our bodies

as we see fit as if we

somehow belonged to

anyone but ourselves

love who we want

identify on the outside

how we feel on the inside

and we still have to fight because

the women are not alright

searched for sisters in ditches

given shelter to those escaping

testified to the world

the horrors we have lived

laid bare our souls

because no one believes us that

the women are not alright

we have me too’d

intersected

transversed

persevered

voted in and out

saved the world

saved ourselves

and it’s hard because inside

the women are not alright

because in our klatches

and our covens we

are trying to give support

to our sisters in pain

wrapping our arms

around each other

while still holding on

to ourselves and truly knowing

the women are not alright

our toes on the precipice

of human extinction

the women teeter

expected to fly

and some of us do

but some of us fall

and we can't catch them all

no matter how much we try

and now live with the guilt

and the shame that comes

with cheating death

and though we may look like

it on the outside

the women are not alright

(c) Elvira Berezowsky