*Content Warning*
This poem reflects on themes that may be distressing to some readers

Speak Up
Written by Kelly Ann Wilson 

Speak up 
A young girl with the biggest dreams
Needs just one person to believe 
So she will grow up knowing 
She is capable of anything 
And she could be the first woman 
On the moon
So, chase your wildest dreams so loudly

Speak up 
Your sisters in a country  
Somewhere that seems half a world away 
Weren't safe to sit down at their desks 
They risked their lives to come to school 
Determined to get an education 
So, read your textbooks and write your papers 
Study diligently
Raise your hand and ask your question
And never stop learning 

Speak up 
How many murdered and missing Indigenous women\
Vanished before they could make it
To your age? 
How many were just barely adults 
With their whole and wonderful lives ahead? 
How could we not have cared
To know how many?  
So, listen to their mothers, cousins 
Neighbours and elders 
Who will not yield in their pursuit of justice
It’s long past time 
But do the work to educate yourself 
And it took too long 
But you believe art can ignite change  
Use your art
To stand with them now 

Speak up 
A new mom  
Wasn’t seen as a whole person   
As a patient in a hospital room 
And now, she feels grief and trauma 
And deeply violated 
From what should’ve been 
The happiest day 
Of her whole life 
So, make the calls and write the letters
File complaints and demand investigations  
Knowing until there’s systemic changes 
Women will be killed 
Every day in our healthcare system 
All because no one would listen 
To a woman

Speak up 
Push back against how 
It was treated as a tragedy
When any woman in your family 
Didn’t have a child by age 40 
With no weight given 
To all that she had achieved and accomplished 
So, keep building a community 
A circle of rich and full and effervescent women 
Who choose to be child-free 

Speak up 
For your grandmothers and great-aunts 
Who wanted more from this life 
Than they were ever allowed to have 
Who had goals and hopes and plans 
That were just for themselves  
But they couldn’t even open a bank account 
So for a generation, forge your own path 
And decide your own purpose 
And make them so damn proud 
Of who their granddaughter is now 

Speak up 
All the women who came before 
Down your family tree 
What they would give to be here now 
And see 2023
So, look back through history 
What did they stand for and believe 
Now, you are their legacy 
What will you do with their last name 
You carry? 

Speak up 
Though this one 
Is the hardest one of all 
When this big world and even humans you trust   
Tell you that this part should feel wrong 
I know you’ve been conditioned 
Your whole life 
But do you think that maybe you could try 
Try to stand up for yourself 
To take up space and be loud
Girl, drown the patriarchy out 

Speak up!

Written April 3, 2023 
© 2023 Kelly Ann Wilson