Kamachand

By: Anastasia DiFonzo

He speaks of nonviolence.

He preaches patience.

He laughs in childlike wisdom.

At the time of attack, simply stand.

You must simply wait.

Your body is a vessel, simply.

The pacifist knows this.

His insides have never been robbed.

He says be still; your soul

cannot be taken from you.

I nod. I tell him nothing.

My voice is my own.

It cannot be taken from me.

But my fist stands ready.

My heart dons her crown.

Peace is not submission.

I will not be taken from me.

He says perspective is choice;

a scream is either of love

or of fear.The past has no place here.

Things I don’t ask are-

do you see yourself inside-out,

reflex to pulse, pulse to heart, often?

Are you certain you’re still here?

We are certain you’re still here,

in the pounding of our ears,

the churning of our guts- incessant.

Certain you still walk,

feet calloused groin tight,

blood boiling less each night,

trained by our vessels, simply.

---

Anastasia DiFonzo (she/her) is a San Diego based poet with a cat named Klaus. Her work can be found or is forthcoming in Anti-Heroin Chic, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Sledgehammer Lit, Punk Noir Magazine, Kalopsia Lit, Yasou!, Salt & Citrus, Tempered Runes Press, Button Eye Review, and Drunk Monkeys. She is on Instagram at @anastasia.difonzo and Twitter at @anmidaludi.

"I wrote this poem when I was spending a lot of time with the spiritual community, and noticed a trend of men encouraging women to transcend their bodily suffering. As someone who has experienced significant trauma, much of which involved my body and my identity as a woman and that I'd spent my whole life up to and beyond that point attempting to work through, I found this flippant attitude condescending and out of touch, not to mention wholly unrealistic.

In sharing this poem with the world, I hope to speak not only to that frustration, but also to the power we can find in standing up for ourselves and setting boundaries when necessary."