Rats and an angry flower.

I am now an old body with a young soul
and although my mother
who, for 15 years long,
was 24 hours a day
been beaten up and raped severely
by a number of different man i.e. rats
as I was a witness
and helping her starting age 5
by patching her up as good as I could
and starting age 13 dropped out of school
to get and found a job
to help her out financially
(we were very poor),
and she always said to me:
those men are just rats
and we angry flowers".

For a long time
I did not understand what she meant
and I cannot ask her anymore
because she to my deepest grief and pain
died at the age of 67,
but in spirit
we are still and always will be together
and talking with each other,
and yes writing poetry together
about what we've been through.

My mother has always been
a role model to me
including how to stand up for for myself
and never to give up
as she never did,
no matter how many rats
there had been in her life
and our lives together.
She always stood firm,
no matter the terrible pain
the rats inflicted on her.

She always stood up,
again and again,
an angry
strong woman and flower!

And untill now
she and I are unbreakable!

March 27, 2021
Gino d'Artali
a hardcore feminist at heart.

fem21revolution@gmail.com