Listening to my dragons

There is a dragon of jealousy
that will not recognize reasoning

It whispers things in my ear
about tongues in places where
I don’t want them to be
It convinces me that dicks
have gone into cunts
and if I’d known
I would have put a brutal
end to all these slip slaps

Illegal in my head

Don’t wanna know
Don’t wanna know
Don’t wanna know

There is a dragon of ecstasy
that does not need to recognize reasoning

She is the mother of all intuition
She is the one that nudges my fingers
towards that palette of paint

She is the one that pushes my voice
out from beneath
rags of shame
dust off the microphone
and place herself at my feet
as I speak

There is a dragon of rage
that has a right to not recognize reasoning

People!
There is no need to shy away from your anger!
I see some of my friends,
give them a glimpse of the dragon-
fire in my belly

And just like that-
they dispense me some advice:
‘You’ll feel much better once you’ve accepted things’
‘Why you so angry all the time?’
‘Just let it go, just let it be’

And the dragon roooaaarrrsss!

I am angry,
because I left my country
in the wake of racism
that killed,
ignorance
that tossed women
who-look-like-me
dead and violated on the streets

I am angry
because I came to this country
and got slurs on the streets
been called a dog
been accused of taking someone else’s job-
when I was (and still am)
obviously
unemployed

I am angry
because it often SUCKS
to be a woman
when you speak your mind,
all kinds of men get defensive
all kinds of men-
my own brother
my own father
suddenly
hollering up and down
about how you’re intimidating them,
you’re oppressing them,
cos you speak your mind

Let me tell you something,
BOYS
There is a difference
between the discomfort
of having
your fucked up ideas of
women, gender, and the world
challenged-

and
the pain
of
actually
being victimized
actually
being marginalized
actually
being underrepresented

So the dragon speaks.

There is a dragon of jealousy
that will not recognize reasoning
There is a dragon of ecstasy
that does not need to recognize reasoning
There is a dragon of rage
that has a right to not recognize reasoning

Which dragon are you?

Rani P Lukita 13th March 09

I mean to perform this one live, I'd appreciate some feedback on how it reads on the page.