I come from a world

That had already determined

All that I could ever be

A woman, a wife

A mother, a shadow to give definition to the men around me And I learned to remove the pieces

That didn't fit into the image

Of what I was supposed to become

 

I buried my identity

Beneath oceans of shame

Drowning beneath the tides

No eloquent prose will ever

Truly describe the barbarism

Of tearing a person's entire soul

Into the tiny shreds

Of acceptable identity

 

I am not a proud person

In fact, I obsessively agonize over coming across

As self-centered, narcissistic

But I’m not afraid to say that

I am proud of these labels

And I would proudly print

Them on a hundred business cards

And hand them out unapologetically

Because I’m done drowning in shame for the comfort of others And I won’t hide the pieces of me

I was taught to keep in the dark anymore