She’s eighty-nine
and now she tells the story of rape,
of giving up a panopoly of dreams
for the baby boy.
(Shot gun wedding)
Love and happiness can’t be forced,
like sex.
Society forced her silence,
condemned divorce,
when she refused abuse,
and sought in the ashes of her dreams
for a phoenix.
Bitter choices,
dream fragments,
cobbled into a life,
grumbled about now.
Dream stealing beast,
a boy who wouldn’t hear no,
seven decades of curses
don’t erase the bitterness
of loss.
.
.
(true story)
Short temper erupts
Tiny trouble surrounds
Small smiles: faked.
Insidious misogeny ignored
We knew.
#MeToo told us nothing new.
Those men want us to
Be little.
But something’s brewing.
It’s going to be big.
Men waiting outside the fabric store
young men
old men
Sitting in cars, humming to the radio
Standing with a cigarette watching traffic go by
Sitting, eyes glazed.
Leaning, napping.
These are the patient men,
the blesséd men,
who wait while colours are contemplated
drape is determined
possibilities are dreamed.
These are the rewarded later men,
who chauffeur home happy wives,
smile vacantly, and say
“Yes, dear.”
thankful their wives know nothing
about the cost of tools.
I’ve be told all my life from the ill informed that “Shawn is a boy’s name!” My mother found the name in the girls’ section of her baby book, and according Wolfram Alpha data, 30,000 females in the US are named Shawn or Shaun. Sure, ten times that number are male, but so what? There are ten times more female Shawns than there are Aurelias and Rosalees for example. If those are girls’ names, Shawn is ten times moreso…
We may not be great in number, but there is some talent represented. So here are some well-known female Shawns or Seans or Shauns. If you have any to add, or you’re one yourself, please leave the information as a comment!
Sports:
Gymnast: Shawn Johnson
.
Music:
bassist: Sean Yseult
Singer: Shawn Christopher
.
Actor/Model:
actess: Sean Young
Miss USA, Miss Universe (1980): Shawn Weatherly
Miss Tennessee State University (2010): Shawn Montgomery
.
Writer:
Author: Shawn Lamb
Blogger: Shawn Allison
Blogger/columnist & artist: Shawn Dell Joyce
Author: Shawn Lane
Author: Shawn Kirsten Maravel
Author: Shawn MacKenzie
In the acknowledgements at the beginning of Drums of Autumn, Diana Gabaldon observes that her husband says, “I don’t know how you keep getting away with this. You don’t know anything about men.” That made me laugh out loud.
Gabaldon might not really know men (though I think she captures them very well, myself), but she definitely understands what women WANT their men to be! Strong and tender, proud and humble, wounded and capable, physically arresting and self-effacing, full of desire and faithfully devoted, a gentleman and a serf. Her main character, Jamie Fraser, may not actually exist, but he is the complex bundle of contradictions that women desire.
This should be a consolation to the men: Jamie’s weaknesses are at the root of his strengths, and he is adored for them.
Shawn L. Bird 
sharing July 24, 2017
Tags: assault, feminism, violence, women
Being A Girl: A Brief Personal History of Violence
I wonder how many women do not have these stories in their lives? I suspect there are few if any. We acknowledge these stories, but so rarely bother to stand up to them, because they are ubiquitous. I am glad to see the light being shone on them and the label being attached. Yes, these are assaults. Yes, this is violence. This is why some cultures are so protective of girls, but why, why, why can’t the blame be put entirely where it belongs- on the perpetrators of this violence?
Perhaps because that requires us to look at our own dark natures?
I was recently reading an article that talked about the passive label like “Violence against women” as if there is no agent acting. Where does that violence come from? Not the ether. Let’s label the agents, not the objects of the action.
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