Women’s Supernova
Content warning: This poem was written about gendered violence, specifically a heroine’s experience with double victimisation and seeking justice through revenge.My hands are bound,
Screams of ‘fire’ taped.
Face pressed to the ground
As my body awakes.
Unsteady hearts beat,
Soldiers in a war.
The gun fires on repeat,
Know I’ll feel it evermore.
Magma pulses through my veins,
The frost it must depart.
Fire ignites my bloodstains
As anger returns to my heart.
I pounce, hissing, scraping,
Your eyes my trophy first.
Blackholes arisen in vacuum,
Light cannot escape your thirst.
I take the weapon next,
That forged my destruction.
It was me one suspects,
Inviting the seduction.
My personal complicity
I venture was the blame,
To pardon his ferocity
In raiding all the same.
My shame is for every eye,
So I beg you to dispel
He who wants you for his prize
When you’re a dead stars’ farewell.
- Katie Grieve
Power
You cannot destroy me.
For one owning a gentle soul, I wear blood well.
I will either find a way or I will make one
Sharpen my sword and slit the throat of any god who stands in my way.
Kindness is foraged in volcanic explosions
The heart of dying stars
The deepest depths of the ocean.
My duality scares you, mercy and ruthlessness exist in one place.
You will never be able to agree on my definition
I will not be catalogued for your benefit.
You expect me to become a martyr
But my battle cries far outweigh the tears.
I will not set aside justice for your comfort.
You think I am warm like home in wintertime
But I am a wildfire that will not be tamed.
You think I am soft like a well worn sweater
But I am silken iron.
You think you know me
But I am my own light that your darkness cannot swallow
I’ll remind you what Hades looks like in human form.
You might think your words are the death blow to finally do me in
But you don’t realize that you’ve only awoken every dragon that sleeps inside me.
You think I contain the warmth of a hearth?
I breathe fire.
You cannot destroy me.
You are not that powerful.
- Sydney Harrington
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