While we can stand side by side with man
with much more ease than your time,
the rotted veils of man’s misgovernment
still dominate this world today.
You only have to take a quick glance at politics.
Man still greatly holds the power
to determine hu(man)ity,
to ensure that they are sitting pretty
for the rest of their lives
while we are supposedly expected
to willingly accept because
they know everything…
There has only been one
female prime minister
in the glorious and pleasant land,
where women who want,
ask, demand for fairness
are deemed as bossy and outspoken,
since we gained full emancipation
a mere eight-seven years ago.
Men are but dreamers: only we are real.
While many are fortunate to live in countries
where we are regarded as citizens
(almost as equals),
extremists terrorise daily lives;
men with guns, bombs, planes
raping women’s dreams with
hard cold heartless steel.
You might wonder why war and violence
is still happening over sixty years on.
But then again,
men never learn.
History is cyclical;
it always repeats itself.
Men are but dreamers: only we are real.
Do not bear your heart too sombrely
dear Wrenne, for your short life
was not in vain.
Your legacy still lives on in my heart.
Women’s empowerment is
more prominent than ever.
You would have adored the sixties.
We women demonstrated our power,
breaking the boundaries and traditions and lies
set up by a weak illusion from men,
scared little men whose power
is merely a facade.
Feminism is no facade.
Men are but dreamers: only we are real.
Women no longer need to feel
confined, restricted, forced
to stay at home,
be the wife,
the emotional wreck,
the weaker, gentle sex.
A major breakthrough for us is science.
Did you know:
men are initially conceived as women?
Our hormones, our bodily structure,
the power of our sex
means that men have always had
our mark, stamped twice for good measure,
on their bodies.
Men are but dreamers: only we are real.
We still have a long long way to go.
Maybe when I finally get to meet you
in the next life, there will finally be
complete equality,
equality between us both,
men no longer proving that
they are the supreme of the sexes
when in fact, we women are
supreme in our own way.
We have the ultimate power:
the power to give birth,
the power to give birth to new life.
Without this power, we would all
cease to exist.
We would all be dreamers, and nothing would be real.
© Clare Abbott (2015)
This poem is dedicated and was written in response to Wrenne Jarman’s poem Letter to Claudia (1948). The line ‘Men are but dreamers: only we are real’ is from Jarman’s poem. Jarman’s poem was one of my favourites which I looked into for my Masters dissertation on British female poetry of the Second World War.
Clare Bear 
Reblogged this on Clare Bear and commented:
In case you haven’t read this poem yet, this is one I wrote recently which was written as a poetical response and tribute to Wrenne Jarman’s ‘Letter to Claudia’. Happy reading and blogging 🙂
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