day SIX HUNDRED and TWENTY TWO

#WhyIDidn’tReport: look to Arachne

Tapestry tells the truth. A mute woman can still weave her story

A man can boast, a woman can’t. I’m good and can prove it.

 It’s a rare woman who’ll boast of student parties/sexual conquests

Young lives “shouldn’t be ruined by twenty minutes of action.”

It was slaves who told my story to a writer who recorded it.

An old lady told me not to compare myself to any of the gods.

Should a man in middle-age be taken to task for youthful spirits,

even if he is to be appointed as a Supreme Court judge?

Challenged I couldn’t back down. She wove stories of gods punishing

mortals for claiming to be equal, that human has its own worth.

#WhyIDidn’tReport: he was more powerful, as a man he held credibility.

I was unsure, I was met with denial, invalidation and disbelief.

I told the truth that gods had tricked and abused humans

and did it by creating cloth more beautiful than hers.

The accuser will recall her story to a panel of white men

who’d have preferred to outsource the hearing to female staffers.

I was poisoned, diminished. Voiceless, I can only weave

silk stronger than steel, patterns more intricate than machines.

She has received death threats and gone into hiding.

Other white men talk about ruining a man’s life, and hers?

Needles can repair damage or stab holes in a reputation.

Women’s woven stories will last. Everywoman  is Arachne.

 --Emma Lee