I Am

I Am

written by: Lisa Hartsgrove

I am daughter, born out of love and betrayal,
a mix that could have been fatal
but instead it enabled
my life to be.
Me: her, she.

I am woman, born into the sisterhood of humanity.
I still have my individuality
but I share the brutality
of this existence.
I am persistence.

I am bisexual, a lover of souls.
I don’t care for arbitrary gender roles.

I am artist, I make the intangible tangible.
I pull floaty ideas into something more understandable.
I never have an expectation,
just sit down and have a conversation
with my imagination
until the art emerges.
My muse urges.

Sisterhood, speak up. Our words are our weapons.
We’ve been fighting too long against gender misconceptions.
There are lessons
from our oppressions.
I understand our aggressions
but we must be the exceptions.
An eye for an eye makes the world blind.
So we fight with our hive mind.

I am daughter, I am woman, I am lover, I am maker.
I don’t let the Earth shake me—I am Earth shaker.

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Lisa Hartsgrove

Lisa Hartsgrove is program coordinator & writing instructor for Project Write Now, a nonprofit transforming individuals, organizations, and communities through writing. She has an MFA in creative writing from Goddard College and has been published in The Pitkin Review, Collage, and The Atlantic Highlands’ “Herald.” Lisa is currently working on a YA novel-in-verse as well as keeping up with a daily “One Sentence a Day” writing project she began in March of 2016.

Latest posts by Lisa Hartsgrove (see all)

• Collections - March 27, 2024
• I Am - November 18, 2023