Peace Treaty

The bombs of your judgement

began in elementary school-

pins pulled from the grenades by adults

lobbed in my direction by my peers.

When did I know the land of my body

was a battleground?

When did I adopt the work for you-

detonating violently within myself?

I've been looking for the landmines

I did not bury-

I declared the sovereign land

that is me-

no longer a democracy

open for your votes

but an autocracy-

and I was her ruler.

Still I walked

a path of the colonizer

speaking of this lush landscape

as if she is meant to be owned.

The vast terrain of my body-

the rounding hills of my breasts

the dip and valleys

of my tummy and hips-

No

SHE is not meant to be ruled over

not one more landscape

to be controlled.

I sign a peace treaty

with the Wild Woman

ending this world war

on the land of my body-

So, that one day the woods of my nature

will be filled with the sound

of song birds once again.

~Lily