Storm bringer

 From Sacred Dreams

Interesting perspective...

I was ten

when I first heard the term

thunder thighs

and I wondered how to become

the type of woman

strong enough

to hold thunder

in her very legs;

the type of woman

loud enough

to make thunder

when she walks;

a storm bringer

drowning out words that

call attention

to thighs, and not souls

that call attention to guys

and enable trolls.

I wondered how to get

legs of thunder

and if I could get a

tongue of lightning

to go alongside.

If I could really

shake institutions

with each step I took

and make a reputation

from all the foundations

I shook.

My body

rapidly 

expanding

to take up the space

I was told I could never have.

Clapping thunder

into the atmosphere

and the faces of those

hellbent on my silence and

fear.

Hear me and my thighs;

they are more powerful

than the men

who name them.

They are more beautiful

than the world

that hides them.

And I was ten

when I first heard how women

are hated;

how their bodies berated

and their ideas negated

and I was eleven when

men first made me

wary;

and thirteen when

they taught me

storms were too scary;

but I'm now 

thirty plus four

and my thighs keep growing,

asking for more.

They're clapping

and shaking

and making a scene

and bringing a storm

and washing things

clean~

~Kaitlin Shelter Poetry