Woman of Africa

by Monica Clarke Bennett

Woman of Africa
Why are you shy
To speak your wisdom?
Why are you shy
To speak your history
In a world which does not understand
That history is not just about
Kings, queens and conquests not of your own?
Where being a woman
Is supported all around you
With hair salons and products
From the L’Oreals which you can’t use
Cause they don’t feel you’re worth it?

Woman of Africa
Why are you shy?
Why do you not speak your wisdom
In lands where it is always so cold
Heated by machines called radiators
Which run with the gurgle of alligators?
Forever cold you are
In lands where the sun hides
Its face, so black will not happen
To soft white skin.
In lands where
Beautiful is thin and flat
And speaking your wisdom
Is impolite and frowned at.

Woman of Africa
Why are you shy
Of a body which the gods
Smile on and bless
To give nurture
To give comfort
In a world where the goddess of sex
Is coiffed and dressed
In clothes made by young children
With hard workers hands
In far off lands
With faces old before their time?

Woman of Africa
Why do you not use your wisdom
When your men are stereotyped
And maligned
Through ages of ignorance
And tales untrue
Which only you
Can dispel?

I Woman of Africa
I Will speak my truth
Say it when it is needed
I Woman of Africa.

© Copyright 2020 Monica Clarke Bennett