of a white woman who came to the group for Women of Color

only

her grief cut us into guilt while we clutched the straw

of this tiny square inch we have which we need

so desperately when we need so much more

We talked her into leaving

which took 10 minutes of our precious 60

Those legion white Lesbians whose feelings are hurt

because we have a Lesbians of Color Potluck

once a month for 2 hours

without them

Those tears of the straight woman

because we kicked out her boyfriend at the Lesbians only

poetry reading where no microphone was provided

& the room was much too small for all of us

shouting that we were imperialists

though I had spent 8 minutes trying to explain

to her that an oppressed people

cannot oppress their oppressor

She ignored me

charged into the room weeping & storming

taking up 9 minutes of our precious tiny square inch

Ah those tears

which could be jails, graves, rapists, thieves, thugs

those tears which are so puffed up with inappropriate grief

Those women who are used to having their tears work

rage at us

when they don’t

We are not real Feminists they say

We do not love women

I yell back with a wet face

_Where are our jobs? Our apartments?_

_Our voices in parliament or congress?_

_Where is our safety from beatings, from murder?_

_You cannot even respect us to allow us_

_60 uninterrupted minutes for ourselves_

Your tears are chains

Feminism is the right of each woman

to claim her own life her own time

her own interrupted 60 hours

60 days

60 years

No matter how sensitive you are

if you are white

you are

No matter how sensitive you are

if you are a man

you are

We who are not allowed to speak have the right

to define our terms our turf

These facts are not debatable

Give us our inch

& we’ll hand you a hanky

—Chrystos