In a Man’s Country

She wears jeans
in a country
where they mark you
a prostitute.
But she is no prostitute
and she’s not afraid.

Her hair is slung back
in a careless neckscarf.
She’s lived here forever
but defies all the norms.

Those norms have left
scars, though,
seared straight through
her soul.

Years spent in slavery
under her grand-mother’s
whip, torn from a
mother with no
rights in a
man’s country:

No husband, no children,
all lost in a day.
No money, no career,
no legal recourse:
Children go to a father’s family
and she was just a mother.

But she struggled through,
somehow got her children back.
And taught her daughter
that every scar
makes you stronger;
even without rights
you must fight.

So her daughter
wears pants
in a man’s land.