Asking For It

ASKING FOR IT

Here I stand,
asking for it.

I am not a girl -
a woman.
And I am ... asking for it.

By it,
I mean a paycheck
equal to that dude's.
Commensurate
to the work I do.
It's not too much to ask.

I am
asking for it.

And by it,
I mean respect.

Recognition
that the length of my skirt
- or my size of my thighs
underneath -
is not an invitation
for your consideration
of my body
and what it needs to do
for you.

Nobody asked you.

I am
asking for it.

It is the thing we all strive for,
what women continue to fight for,
what we have sacrificed
and died for.

It is what we pray for,
over the heads
of our daughters.

It is what we demand 

when push the conversation further

It is what causes us to stand

and speak against our fathers.

I am done asking for it.

I will create it. 

I will take it.
It was never yours to give.