This Is Not A Feminist Manifesto

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Look at me
Silky, milky white
Black
Red
Yellow
It doesn’t matter
Because I have skin that I enjoy
And that you enjoy

And beneath that skin
I have so much to offer
If you would just open your eyes
Long enough and in a way
To see the unseeable

Listen to me
Because I have more to report than
What has already been said
 Or my own emotions
I can create ideas that are
Transcendent
This is not a feminist manifesto

I am the giraffe
Slender and elegant
Admired
Not because I am exotic but because

I am free
Beauty among wildebeests
I am my own alpha
And because I embrace this delicate grace
I have perspective
This is not a feminist manifesto

Yes, and I have shed blood for you
No, not on the battlefields
Because I could not have worn uniform
But in loose flowing gowns
And perhaps the darkened back bedrooms

With my most beautiful, most distinct parts
Exposed
Bleeding, sweating, crying
Sacrificing
My pleasure
In order to grant you the life you now own
This is not a feminist manifesto

I am woman
Respect me
Because though I may not be strong
I am not fragile

I am asking you to understand me
Or for today at least to try
To put aside
All the imperfections, the painful recollections
That you wish you could change
And find freedom in loving me
Imperfectly

These are the things which her body tells her
Whispering in harmony
With her mind
With her soul

Shine forth, she says
Be beautiful
Be bold

Tell yourself
Repeat after me
Like energy
I am infinity
In the form of potential

This is not a feminist manifesto

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