Revolution
Arianna Geneson
Revolutions happen. I’ve seen thousands of them. I’ve guided flocks Sung thousands of them. End of the road, you said. Last call, train conductor, end it or you're dead. Your teeth lit fire Fired fear inside me I’ll do what you ask of me I’ll do all you want I’ll take stock of each death walk made Stock of the cattle slain Neck snap Chicken, squirrel, hare, and mouse You did say I was always hunting something I said, I’ll die if you ask me to On the train, a man in dusty boots and a stained durag sits perfectly across from me His hands peel with calluses, They bounce a baby in his lap. I was like that once. I paid social security, gave lips and hands, cut checks for utilities And kissed your forehead. Gave you towels still warm from the wash Cooked only what pleased You fake-smiled and pretended not to eat I was never right, You were always right. No diploma, no certificate, no exam to pass to earn your charms So, I shake Cat shake, ripping flesh, seamless prey Break the neck, dying, pink skin to meat Our skin to skin, and so you lied there laughing at me It was like the time you sent back the burger half-eaten, half-spat, half burned at the stake. I abided this daily for weeks and years That is, unntil you accused me of being a witch. And then I found truth was tucked inside me. Not god, the big white fellow, waving down from the sky, But witch, god, the earth, the woman who sang power as I dripped blood She could mow down men on battlefields, bleed them dry She’d mow you down too. What fool did you think me When I was always goddess, witch, witchcraft Slaking my terror through bottle Breast milk, milk bled to teach Ritual sacrifice You’d hoped I’d sacrifice me But now I was all quake and terror Dark, death slayer scythe sharpened I’d found dark Willow inside me. Knowing, deeply but not biblically. Knowing these hands wield death, learn death, teach destruction Hands that brought the calves to slaughter Bare, hands you’d wish dead And you’d told me once, over breakfast, Scooped scrambled eggs to your lip—bottomless pit You said yield and be sold All this done so casually But I’d seen this film before I’d once even sung the tune I was the poster, the child I was gifted dolly flesh This was nothing new Now today grown fathered, I’m death. I’m killer. Speak curses, cut tall men down. Assassinate. I breath life through Mother Earth and assassinate. And to all men, plots of land lie cruel and unreliable Like woman. When it comes to feelings There was only Ocean inside sky beside me Our side Was first inside me. No man. No father, boy, or husband. It was always water, always wind Never a man I am the end. I am the product of it all. I am what ends the world. I am what changes the story. Revolution happens. It’s happened 1000 times before. I am revolution. I am death to the world.
You can find Arianna on Instagram @virtuallyarig