Role

You are a man now after that first punch

after he challenged you

to equality.

So you invite him to strike

without stance or self-defence

believing you are strong,

if not

stronger,

imagining it does not hurt,

and that this is what it takes

to be equal.

You become the father who

wants to save him,

resigning to his penchant

for cigarettes, designer wear and drugs after all else

fails.

You become the husband who

keeps the altar and stomachs filled

honouring gods and family

because men are cleaner,

sturdier than women.

Then you become him,

when sex is but a faceless,

heartless fashion.



You are a man now

when before you were a woman

and did not know how to

not

be

a woman.

At the back of your head,

you know this is neither equality

nor feminism

and you are caught

in a halfway house

supporting this role that has

no name.