“To The Women in My Life”

Take ownership of every inch of you
Each individual strand of hair
On your head
That glint in your eyes
Your sharp, dangerous smile
The suffocating curve
Of your hips
Your slender legs
That’s all you

The declarations exploding out of your mouth
Like fireworks
Popping, popping, popping
Beautifully disrupting silence
Beautifully making your presence known
Staining everything it touches
In hot, vibrant color
That’s all you
That all belongs to you

Remember that
Tattoo it on your heart
Because people will try
To wipe it away
Like eraser shavings taking up space
You are not temporary
You are eternally beautiful
Let my smile remind you
My natural laugh
My loose shoulders
You are phenomenal
A strong, powerful woman
You’ll leave your print in the stars

—

“Step Up”

“...I think it has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls — who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on the executive level — to step up.”

Why are women being told to “step up?”
Do you not see the tears in each word
The blood in each lyric
The fire in every performance
You cannot wash it all away
Or remold it like clay
Women do not need to step up
Neil Portnow
You should step down