A Woman's Existence in the Hands of Man

They told us to serve the man, hide our faces, to bear all the children 

till our bodies stretched so much that all that was left was 

a pile of organs, loosened muscles, and bones ground to dust.

We cried for our mothers and our daughters and our sisters 

wondering and wailing why they had come into our world-- 

a world that served only those with a filling between their legs.

Our husbands cried for their unborn sons,

impregnating us in hopes of more.

What more could they want? 

A whole army of boys who’ll only grow to fill the holes of women, 

trapping them -us- in an endless cycle?

No reprieve from the incessant wails of needy infants.

Boys who enclosed their mouths around the stiff peaks of their

mother’s breasts grow with a hunger to go out and conquer the world, 

while our girls, whose fingers once wrapped around the hairs of their mothers,

now clutch the handles of brooms sweeping the floor from age five.

We have no reprieve to the constant needs of our children,

but our husbands go out with freedom whipping through their hair.

Their rough hands -which later roam our sore body at night-

reflect the opportunities they are given.

The roughness of our hands are much more brittle, 

dry as the very life is sucked out from the lines that map our palms. 

So, tell me, men, the children of a so-called God, 

how should I believe in all these religions that only

constrain me in terms of my mind, but free me in 

terms of how much my body must withstand in the hands of you?

Tell me, how much longer should I suffer watching my daughter 

and my mother work like dogs in the hands of both father and son?

As a woman in a world where I am limited as a person

due to fullness of my hips and the existence of my breasts, 

tell me why I should succumb to the every demand of the man 

that does nothing but feel important due to my dependence?

Author's Note

Should I reformat the way I express this poem? Any general comments about the content? Should I extend or shorten the poem? Any and every feedback would be extremely helpful!! I've never been able to receive feedback on my writing before, so it would be quite nice to get some of that here. Thank you!