1 Billion Rising-Valentine's Day 2013

In honor of 1 Billion Rising, in honor of awareness of the violence against women that still permeates our world, in honor of the respect each one of us can and must bestow upon each other...a love poem:

Love a Woman

women are like sand
that shifts,
making room where there
wasn't, making life
where there wasn't. Tiny particles, sharp
like glass, pieces of each of
us, when brought together they
are soft, and
round,
accepting, and
supportive. You can
run on us, you can play
on us, you can gather
as much of us
as you can and
the unruly
particles will stream
down from your cupped
hands like a
waterfall, we are that
flexible. We are that
uncontainable. You can build
great art, and useful
barriers, you can lie
down and we won't
let you sink. Women
are strong and
supple, and every
day, around the world,
they are ignored,
yelled at,
beaten,
raped,
worked like
mules,
abandoned, and thrown out
like trash.
Every day
in countries
where a divine
image of woman
is revered, actual
women suffer. Men allow
it, other women allow
it. It is passed on like
tradition,
like knowledge
should be, like hope
should be, like respect
should be. If you do not
know respect, it is hard
to pass on. Break
the cycle, learn
Respect yourself
by respecting
others, by
respecting women,
by respecting childhood,
by respecting the men
who support us and
love us. Love yourself,
love a
woman.