Warlord

An era of war:

waged by billowing wisps of wind-wafted locks;

strands of soldiers, with the meaning of battle

etched into their skeletons

I am the definition 

A time in the trenches;

where enemies’ dead lay dormant,

in the divots and depths of discarded flesh,

where the rivers run red on cue

I am the landscape 

An atomic aftermath;

where the remnants of men 

radiate, in rage and toxicity,

even from the most acute exposure

I am the explosion 

An excerpt for the history books;

where the the truth is written by the winner, 

written in accusation,

   fear tactics, 

   propaganda, 

to warn the worn and weary of the cruelty of battle 

I am the warlord 

the leader 

the monster 

the figure at the tip of your finger, 

saying it’s my fault, saying that I’m...

An era of war;

where if I had trapped you,

I could strap you down with a peek of protruding cloth,

and stab you with the unsuspecting blade of my shoulder

I could entrance you,

with a well-assured walk, 

with which, I could send shivers up your spine

and I would just be minding my own business...

instead I am the thing to fear

I am the warlord 

Because my hips are wide like my ancestral country 

Because my shoulders are strewn about me like a hillside

Because my breasts became it’s mountains 

Because my value is within my canyons 

and I should be ashamed

of my body 

and the worth you try to excavate for inside it, 

you say it’s hiding, that you need to find it 

and I should be ashamed 

that I was not paying attention

to my fields and their bounty

and the soldiers sent to scout me -my body-

and the worth you try to excavate for inside it, 

you say it’s hiding, that you need to find it

and I should be a shamed

because I am the warlord 

and I have weaponized these features 

and dislodged the trajectory of your future

because you claimed my fields and their bounty 

with the soldiers you sent to scout me -my body-

and the worth you try to excavate for inside it, 

you say it’s hiding, that you need to find it

You say I should be ashamed

You say that I am the victor and not the victim

You say you must be avenged and vindicated 

You say I’m the warlord...

but the winner earns the right to write history