Woman Speak

I was raised to look on the bright side;
to believe that EVERYTHING works out
the way it should
in the end.

My mother told me that real beauty lives within
and wisdom is a way of Life.

At the knee of my grandmother
I was taught that Love has more value
takes more courage
and brings more joy
than anything.

I was brought up in the language of women
but,
no one told me it was a code.

No worries,
the world around me was
happy to provide instruction.

Mature now,
code deciphered,
I have taken my lessons to heart
and left the woman-speak behind.

Now I know that
"everything works out in the end"
really means
Life is hard and confusing
and you will survive its chaotic harshness
until you die.

The outer world doesn't give a rat's ass
for inner beauty;
it's what's outside that counts
and gets paid.

Wisdom has no value,
but knowledge is marketed to the masses;
bottled and sold,
on tv, in public schools,
by preachers and portfolio managers.

It will even show up in your e-mailbox
with the subject header
"Make it bigger for her and she'll beg for more".

"She'll beg for more",
which, in the language of women, means
please,
stop your banging and poking
and give me something more

give me more than your limp bravado
or the back of your hand when you have run out of words,
more than short-term serial monogamy
or a ride in a fast car,
more than this swollen belly
filled with your growing seed
and a story to explain your absence.

Can you give more than an impulse?
more than a car note payment left on the dresser in the morning?
more than HIV/herpes/gonorrhea/syphilis/chlamydia or
the human papillomavirus?
more than a grumble when I can do something
some
one
thing
better than you?

Is there more than drunken Friday nights that bring you home
on Saturday morning
with the smell of a barmaid's thighs still on your lips?
more than how I need to understand about your wife and kid
and your baby mama?
more than your highs
more than your lows
more than the circumference of the small little world
that spins around you?

Can you
give me
what my Nana promised,
in the language of women -
a courageous and priceless Love?


I have come to believe,
that Nana meant
Love is woman's hope;
a hope that endures
and stands
in this world of men.