It Takes Strong Women

by Hayley Boyle

It took a strong woman

to create a strong woman.

To birth her into the night.

Bearing her forth with the cries of

one thousand armies.

As she, too, cried

faced with light and air and removed

from the thrum of heartbeats and blood.

It took a strong woman

to reveal a strong woman.

To be bold, fierce, unashamed.

Asking for more when

left unsatisfied. Smoldering,

not evaporating into

the ether when forceful tongues clamor

for the space she inhabits.

It took a strong woman

to endure the weight of generations.

To stitch stories of those who came before her.

Hemming those yet imagined

into the seams of us.

All in the name of

trust, that you and I would not forget

our mothers nor daughters.