It Is Time

 

(when asked why it's necessary to have a yoga class just for women of color....)

it is time to open up what has too long been closed

those back pages of the alternative weekly

filled with lisitings of asian call girls

release them from the sealed boxes of the classified ads

these groins we held hard

knees squeezed together to protect us

from the men we were supposed to trust

it is time to open up what has too long been closed

forced onto boats by traders or our own desperation

shackles on wrists and ankles across oceans

crowded boats of refugees unable to find safe harbor

it is time to open up what has too long been closed

lips sealed tight, ashamed of our accents

taught to be polite and submissive

sweaty armpits and hairy legs we were taught to hide

post-traumatic heart centers and tightened lungs

tawny brown, olive sallow, and deep mahogany skin

that marked us as inferior

it is time to open up what has too long been closed

our minds grown rigid from

negotiating the dissonance of our beautiful bodies

in a world that either discarded us

or put us in gilded cages like exotic birds

open the grave of sarah baartman

and bring her home to south africa

release her from the world’s fair

where she was mocked as the hottentot venus

break open the glass case in paris

where her skeleton, genitals, and brain were displayed

it is time to open up what has too long been closed

throw open the doors and windows of nail salons and dry cleaners

filled with the smog of neurotoxins

as dainty yellow hands caress yours

unlock the doors of sweatshops overseas

where brown sisters toil to feed their children and grandchildren

throw open the curtains on brothels here and everywhere

southeast asian sex tours

trafficked sisters drugged and enslaved

it is time to open up what has too long been closed

open your throat and bellow

open your mind and decolonize yourself

open your groins and shed your shame

open your heart and pour out your joy and suffering

open your belly and fill it with breath

it is time to open up what has too long been closed

1 may 2013

pkh