poem: You Are More

for the Guatemalan girls and young women in my life. For Luz, Diana. Mariela, Paty, Martha, Katy, and Jennifer. and countless more.

You have been taught

that your worth can be weighed

by amassing your receipt

of appreciative glances,

your share of covetous stares

and the accumulated collective

of sacrificial service, the rendering

of power to betters and wisers.

 

But, you are far More.

You are the strangled half voice of your people

the wellspring of a new morality

that considers the feeding of souls

part of healing and recovery; the inspiration

of minds a paradigm for tomorrow.

You are the untried leadership

burdened with the heaviest task

of undoing prejudice and half-truths.

Your feet will move the future

and your hands will do the work

and you are always, More.

 

You will tend wounds and hearts and minds;

Design spaces for joyous things to grow

and human dreams to bridge earth and sky;

Demanding your place among the great,

your visions will construct the lives

for daughters and sons,

your wisdom shall guide timid steps

of mothers and fathers to new frontiers

for you are vastly, More.

 

More than a father’s daughter,

more than husband’s spouse

your soul is here to know love,

your body yours to decide how and when

and with whom and under what circumstances

that happens. You owe nothing to no-one.

 

Your thoughts are more than parents

your morality greater than church

your nutrition more than food

your steps greater than toil,

your concerns are not whining

your fears are neither stupid nor vain

your heart is more than Mother

your value more than a face

your fingers more than service.

 

You are More.

You Belong to You.

Your life, and its freedom, are yours to own.

Your body the vessel that you tend,

Your mind the field you cultivate with crops

of your choosing.

Your dreams are animals you guard in flocks

in the mountaintops of your own desires

your weight is not a moral failing.

You are more than caricature

more than a role you play.

You are, simply, More.

 

 

 

Author's Note

Spanish translation here:

http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/zorra_encantada/1375386/

photo is a portrait of my friend Katy, working in her family's greenhouse. It is from a series we took when we interviewed her for an international exhibit combining interviews, photos, and works of art describing Guatemala's experience with cliamte change, and giving them a voice in global climate change leadership and direction.

Reviews

[Horizon K.]

...You have been taught
that your worth can be weighed
by amassing your receipt
of appreciative glances,
your share of covetous stares...

Marie-- your words are always uplifting and wise, and here-- a beacon of light for all of those women out there who forget, or were never taught, or were taught otherwise, by these still, male-dominated societies -- what the universal value of a woman is-- so much more-- anything, everything. I wonder... that culture in Guatemala, how women (perceive) that they are allowed to behave. Even here, in the US-- a friend of mine often points out to me the huge discrepancies in how we are expected to act in professional situations-- a woman who "acts like a man"-- making demands for what she deserves or any act of power-grabbing -- is considered a b***h and often gets burned... We-- are expected to be nurturing and softer, I am told... And what our daughters are taught today by Disney princess culture-- that being a pretty, superficial consumer-- is a primary measure of her value, compared with being a creator, a thinker, an explorer... I don't know if that makes me never want to have a daughter, or to have one so I could make sure to teach her to defy, all of that...

Anyway, your words are powerful, your form, resonant and beautiful... The world needs your words, including me... Looking forward, to your next piece...

...You are, simply, More...

[Marie Anzalone]

Guatemala is ocnsidered one of the worst places in the world to be a woman, Horizon. I work in areas where girls are selected for marriage at an average of age 14. The illiteracy rates and malnutrition rates are through the roof. In many places, women cannot own property. They are taught that they ARE property. The only thing they aspire to is to be models or singers... coveted by men. I would break that for every single girl I love... I would teach her how much more she can be. ANdyes, that goes for US girls, too. Be thankful that at least we are getting better about showing role models for ours. Slowly, this tide will turn, because it has to. Thank YOU for being a role model to the ones in you rown life, including me.

[h d e rushin]

Tillie Olsen said that every woman who writes is a survivor. And I tend to agree.
That above all the abracadabra margical charm and incantation that this first stanza
suggests, the remainder you write like a woman like a woman looking up from a well.
We hear you but only if were near you...You are far more than marginalization. Like
Mrs. Olsen, too proud and honorable to stoop to 1930's "voiceless brides" she
would later choose orginazation over the lili-pad comforts of "just being quiet"/
You see, if your a woman and your quiet it's ok to be a crazy housewife. But if
your a woman who shakes foundations, champions causes and takes firm resolute
positions you might be just crazy. And I mean crazy in that good-revolutionary way.

You are so very good with a tear in your eye. Some of us just bable thru our tears.
But true poetry wont let you off that easily.

just tremendous.
dana

[Marie Anzalone]

Dana, my heart goes out to these girls. Girls who come to me at 12, and say, "help me not have to get married in two years." Girls who say, "We have no role models. We open our newspapers and there is an article on soemone'es neckline, and there is, in the centerfold, a barely clad model. But htere is nothing showing us women doctors, writers, scientists, artists, business owners, tech workers, etc." An 18 year-old I know just got married; her MIL is treatign her as sub-human because she wantsn to wait to have children. A girl's worthis on how many babies her thighs spit out. it reallt gets to me. Tears? You have no idea. I had to decide after a rape at age 16 whether to be a single teenage mom or not. At least I had that choice. So many do not.

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

Wow this is fantastic… filled with beautiful sentiment and intelligent advice for the ladies… the poem has left me in awe.

[Marie Anzalone]

thanks, Dale... more and more, I am understanding how much this kind of encouragement is needed here. We have girls of 12 begging us to tell them that they do not need to marry at age 14, that they can think of themselves as women when they do not have children at 17 and clean and cook for a man.