Pen & Prosper Celebrates Women's History Month

 

They Say We Hold up/Half the Sky

They say we hold up half the sky,

Yet, every day

daughters sigh

mothers cry,

Misogynistic rants

tear us down.

Boundaries are set:

“You can’t do that yet!”

Hold your head up,

square those shoulders.

Let your smile shine through.

Be your own you.

Don’t apologize,

Just strategize.

This is your day;

this is your time.

Princess, you can cross that finish line!

(C) Yasmin Morais

Bio:

Yasmin Morais was born in Jamaica, lived for a while in Canada, and now resides in the United States. Her poems have been published in Nursing Science Quarterly, The Potomac, Pen and Prosper and Gotham Writers. She also self-published her first poetry collection, From Cane Field to the Sea. Her second collection, Questions in Jamaican Patois, was published in fall 2023 by Finishing Line Press.

To showcase the works of Caribbean poets, she created the blog, Poets of the Caribbean: poetsofthecaribbean.blogspot.com

She enjoys traveling, badminton and running in her spare time.