يجب أن تحب نفسك أولا

It's kind of magic, this flame that burns inside of me.

[voicemailpoems]

“Demeter Speaks to Persephone After Her Rape” by Melissa Rose

Daughter, the end of summer will always be a signal. You will never forget when spring was taken from your skin. Only the smokey smell of the season’s changing. The chill of the place his hands found. It is amazing how the body remembers. Like the trees after a forest fire, you will ache from a wound you place at the back of your mind. I also know what it’s like to feel empty. I can still remember the hollow absence of you in my womb. When I birthed you into the sun a girl. This was my mistake. I should have known how girls are plucked so easily from the Earth. How they are placed in vases. How their beauty is seen only as something to be owned. Even goddesses are not safe from assault. Every winter, I remember: How we danced. How we bloomed. How I held you in my arms and whispered “sweet girl” You most of all should never know how the world only holds you close enough to stab you. How any day may be the day you lose your limbs. How soon enough you will face yourself in the mirror and not recognize who you are. How can I prepare you for that? When you stumble back to me with stories of how his touch reminded you of death. How every year you feel like dying. How the sunlight no longer gives you warmth. How they will make a myth out of you and he will still sit on a throne. There is a reason they call me Mother. I am good at watching the things I love suffer. I exist only to watch the journey of my children as they stand painful in abandoned fields like stalks of withered corn. When you walked back from Hades and its darkness I made sure the sun would show you that hiding your pain from the light only kills you slowly. And I will tell you, Daughter that everything dies but it is never the end. Do not forget you are a goddess. That the sun is shining for you. Your skin is not a fruit he sank his teeth into, it is an orchard. Your body is not a withered stem, it is a rosebush. Every year may remind you, but never forget that above all else, you were made from this Earth. You are not a victim of it. I will mourn with you. I will show the world how to bend to your pain. To share your grief every time you are forced back into his bed. I will plant these seeds, kissing them like children and bury your pain in the dirt. Hands in the soil, feeling the flesh of your fruitfulness not as something to be stolen, but savored. Sweet girl, you are a survivor. You were made for greater things than the Queen of Death. And you will find them here. In the Spring.

————————————–

Melissa Rose called us from Eugene, OR. More about Melissa.

This poem was originally published by Black Napkin Press.

SUPPORT US ON PATREON voicemailpoems.org // 1-910-703-POEM

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[jamiemortara]

what god damn

[wombshaker]

I hate that some people are so dense that they need disclaimers for every single thing, like when women say “men are…” you know good and goddamn well they aren’t referring to every single man. It’s billions of us, how the fuck would they know all of us?

Whenever I hear these statements, I interpret it as “Not all men, but enough men to make this a prominent issue amongst men”

Same shit with “white people are…” Get the fuck out your feelings and actually listen so you can address the concerns of these people instead of defending people that ain’t shit.

[orwell]

There’s one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered. One place and that’s the graveyard. People ask me all the time, what kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola? And I say, exhume those bodies. Exhume those stories. The stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition. People who fell in love and lost. I became an artist and thank god I did because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life.

Viola Davis (via xwg)

[onestenrepublique-deactivated20]

Tag yourself, I’m the smurfette

@transperceneige

[emilievitnux]

A tous les français en age de voter : 

- Les britannique pensaient que le brexit ne passerait pas : Il est passé

- Les américains pensaient que Trump ne passerait pas : Il est passé

Vous voulez vraiment qu’on soit le 3eme pays a avoir cru que ca passerait pas et voir ensuite Le Pen comme présidente? Nous ne sommes plus en 2002, Le Pend ne vas pas perdre avec moins de 20% des voix. 

Alors en Mai 2017, ne faite pas comme eux. inscrivez vous sur les listes électorales et allez VOTER. Que vous ayez des convictions politique ou non, VOTEZ. Même si pour vous voter Hollande, Sarko’, Juppé ou le pape c’est pareil, dites vous bien que c’est toujours différent que de voter FN. 

Et surtout que rappelez vous que de ne pas voter ce jour la, c’est permettre a ce parti d’accéder a l’Elysée. 

VOTEZ EN MAI 2017

[sortez-les]

!!!!!!!

[awesomefrench]

Dear people learning French, be aware of this

Your accent is more than fine, you don’t need to have a Parisian accent to be a legit francophone. French is spoken by 542 millions of people in 30 different countries, and I don’t even know how many different French dialects may exist… French language is multicultural, and you are part of this big community. 

You are a legit francophone even if you make some mistakes. Guess what, I make mistakes too, I check grammar online too, like everybody. French IS complex and French rules are HELL to us, native speakers, too. Seriously, I feel your pain. 

It’s okay if you started learning French a while ago, stopped, and then want to get back to it but don’t really know how to do it. You don’t have to apologize. You are not betraying anyone for stopping for a moment, a week, a month, a year… It’s totally okay. We all have ups and downs and you will find motivation in due time.  It’s okay if you read French well, write French well but struggle to speak. It takes time to get confidence and speak up. It will come some day, believe me. I learned English just like you are learning French, I had trouble speaking too. Hell, I was impressed by native speakers and lost all my words! You will get confidence as your knowledge will grow, you’ll get more practice and it’s going to be easier for you. Trust me, been there, done that, it’s legit. 

Don’t forget that French is awesome and you are awesome for learning it! 

[ronweasley]

[sortez-les]

🙃🙂

[brutereason]

The truth is—despite stereotypes that paint feminists as forever negative—doing feminist work requires boundless optimism. It means believing that people have the ability to be better, that culture can change, and maybe even that people who hate can learn to love. It’s exhausting. Sometimes reminding ourselves how hilariously stupid the opposition can be is a necessary break from the burden of idealism.

Fuck the High Road: The Upside of Sinking to Their Level | The Nation  (via roujah)

[sortez-les]

العالم بحاجة لثورة تقودها امراة

[tounsiyaaa]

فلا عاش في تونس من خانها ♥

[alexsnotsosecretworld]

[nbcsnl]

"If he were here tonight, I’m sure Tracy would remind us that more than anything, he would like to get us all pregnant."

[humansofnewyork]

"Who’s influenced you the most in your life?" “My principal, Ms. Lopez.” “How has she influenced you?” “When we get in trouble, she doesn’t suspend us. She calls us to her office and explains to us how society was built down around us. And she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built. And one time she made every student stand up, one at a time, and she told each one of us that we matter.”

[dreamingwithoutsleeping2point0]

Damn right we aren’t

[bysusannemota]

xx

[sortez-les]

Home.

[lora-mathis]

The rape joke is that you were eight. The rape joke is that at the time, you didn’t know people had sex to express love. The rape joke is that the only other person who’d seen you naked was your mom. The rape joke is that he called you ‘beautiful’ first. The rape joke is that he held your hands together and told you to ‘try harder’ when you struggled. The rape joke is that you believed him when he told you were overreacting. The rape joke is that your grandma called him a nice boy and asked him to stay for dinner. The rape joke is that he winked at you when you apologized to your parents for not coming downstairs the first time you were called. The rape joke is that his friends high-fived him for “getting some.” The rape joke is that you still don’t feel like you’ve regrown the pieces he stole. The rape joke is that he was conceived when his dad slapped himself into his snoring mother. The rape joke is that her friends told her she was lucky someone wanted her. The rape joke is that each year in the United States, 32,000 other women’s bellies ripen with life against their will. The rape joke is that he never learned to touch without scarring. The rape joke is that your classmate thinks ‘have you seen what asses look like in yoga pants?’ is an argument. The rape joke is your new boyfriend kissing you and telling you he ‘raped’ his math test. The rape joke is that ‘Why are girls so scared of rape? Y’all should feel pride that a guy risked his life in jail just to fuck you’ is a popular Tweet right now. The rape joke is that you wake up to the memory of him laughing, “now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” The rape joke is that it’s been twelve years and you still quiver when someone touches you. The rape joke is that he hasn’t stopped laughing. The rape joke is that you forgot how to.

The Rape Joke | Lora Mathis Inspired by this. (via lora-mathis)

[sortez-les]

Life doesn't frighten me at all. Not at all. Not at all.