An essay on womanhood

TW: Reference to SA/ Adult themes

If I could go back in time, 

I would teach Ophelia how to swim. 

She would survive the thoughts of an inconsiderate man 

and tell ghost stories in a hamlet. 

I would remind Juliet that she is fourteen,

and that death isn’t poetic.  

I would tell Leda that the swan that was swimming alone on the pond 

was a costume Zeus sewed together. 

I would cut down Daphne, 

a maiden who twisted out of her beautiful body 

to keep Apollo’s hands off her thighs,

so she wouldn’t have to look at his light anymore.

Women are treasure troves of weaponized incompetence, 

Pandora’s Box,

a vessel used to hide fears men 

can’t bear to bear anymore, 

written and ridden 

to 

remedy 

broken ego, 

sliced apart in the servitude, their brand reading out, ‘in the name of love’, 

not Margaret,

or Phoebe, 

or Renee, 

woman who were eaten up by History. 

Maybe, 

if I went back in time to save them

women would never be a staple of tragedy,

rape wouldn’t be romanticized, 

we would realize that we weren’t punished by Eve, 

but by men who don’t even like gardening, or women, 

we could be sympathetic to period cramps and labor pains,

we wouldn’t have to smile to keep the peace, 

we could walk alone, 

we wouldn’t have to be trained to not leave our drinks alone, 

we could bare our teeth and still be pretty, 

witches could live longer, 

straight jackets were never popular to bored married men,

we could be treated as human beings

or worshipped,

for being the fairer sex,

if that was possible, 

sacrificing our body, 

mind, 

to push out life.

Maybe, 

we don’t need Time Travel for 

that last part. 

Art found on Pinterest.