"Strength" by Maddie Hanson (2015)
Found Poem and Annotation
It’s about changing the way the world perceives strength.
For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.
And we cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.
By institutional dehumanization, expected to kneel to men.
It takes strength not to.
I will have my voice…I will overcome the tradition of silence.
Neither storm nor sleet nor dark of night could faze it.
And women have survived as poets.
I want to make myself.
Strong women…may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.
To change the way the world perceives strength.
For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.
And we cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.
By institutional dehumanization, expected to kneel to men.
It takes strength not to.
I will have my voice…I will overcome the tradition of silence.
Neither storm nor sleet nor dark of night could faze it.
And women have survived as poets.
I want to make myself.
Strong women…may we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.
To change the way the world perceives strength.