They Stole Our Bodies (TW abortion/rape)

My body was stolen.

I saw it on the news a couple days ago.

167 million other bodies were stolen in total.

Maybe yours was too.

​

So far,

the country remains divided

on whether or not we should get our bodies back.

Things are proceeding as normal,

Restaurants are open, people are going on vacation.

Meanwhile, half the country wanders the streets

in bodies they no longer own.

​

Look at how they have repurposed my body!

My breasts are for milk now.

My stomach is a stretched-out house.

My vagina is a delivery device,

destined to be shredded

and then sewn back up uncomfortably tight,

for the pleasure of a husband.

​

Nothing is mine, not even the things I create—

I now exist to grow clumps of cells in my womb

that cannot feel or think.

My body is a factory,

and the government owns the means of production.

​

The body-snatchers make the rules.

They can force me to give birth to a corpse.

They can rape me and lay claim to the baby.

They can force me to die for something that cannot think, move, or feel

just because it takes the shape of a human.

​

They care about the unborn because they’re a blank slate.

Non-sentient beings can’t talk back.

We talk back.

They want to punish us,

so they have decided to punish our bodies.

​

They want to stretch us and break us until we submit.

They want us to have children so that we will be busy,

too busy to steal our bodies back.

​

Time is running out,

but we still have a chance.

​

It’s time to teach them some empathy.

Back the body-snatchers into a corner.
Threaten to rip sinew from bone—

show them what it is like

to lose control of the body.

​

We will reclaim

every pound of flesh

they have taken from us.

​

And when I get my body back,
I will build barricades around it.

It is the only thing that is truly mine.

​

Critiques

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/vnzqte/coloratura_coldplay/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/vn6tn8/fathers_day/ieab9gj/?context=3