#HearMeToo: Feminist First

Feminist First
By Mercy Eni
I am a feminist first
Excuse me sir, you heard me?
Yes, you mister with the litter of disdain you throw my way
At my hair kinky as it gets,
my face when that acne breaks,
my shirt, my pants
Armored in your spick and span, suit and tie
Betrayed only by the ensuing silence that follows the forbidden F bomb,
Expressed in darting eyes,  Aaargh! She is one of those
So confusing because I wear masculine pants and work a ” man’s job”
For all this woman I have going on
You will remember me as a feminist first
Abundantly blessed in my sensuality,
From the peaking mountains on my chest to my magnificent hip and dip
Still a feminist first
I get it from my mama
All of this good good
If I have my cake why not eat it too?
But first to make sure you never forget
I am a feminist first
While I am putting you on in the boardroom
Raising stakes and pitching for profits
With my treble and bass setting the business ablaze
You look dead in my eyes with a telling twinkle
Dreaming of putting it in, in the bedroom
How adventurously middle life male to court a bit of trouble and a whole lot of ass
Your ego dictates it, we both know it
What you don’t know is that I too have my alter ego, the soul snatcher,
That refuses to be anything but selfishly loud and proud
I am my mother’s child after all, and she raised no basic wench
Shade is nothing without the burning sun, she said
I will remain a feminist first
Dripping melanin and magic..
 
Mercy Eni is a guest writer whose poem reflects on this year’s theme for #16DaysofActivism against Gender based Violence. She is a Kenyan-born young opinionated and phenomenal creative writer and unapologetic feminist with exquisite taste in all things literature and good music. She has been published in The Kalahari Review, Untold Lives of Women Kenya, African Writer, Green Black Tales and Afroway Magazine. She is a storyteller and writes fiction, poetry and reviews on her blog