I believe that the Eve of a new millennium abuses the history of silence
A found poem constructed from a speech given by Hillary Clinton for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China on September 5, 1995 (transcript, video).
Distinguished delegates and guests,
I would like to be part of this World.
The home is a coming together
Much the way we come together, living
In the river, water
We come about our concerns
And time divides us.
We share a common future:
we find stability in focusing on
the lives of chance.
Question the reason for homes.
Wonder, look at the women who run.
Compel people to face:
Wasn’t the first time violence?
I, individual.
I, women.
Lives, violence (chance as equal).
And women has a stake in place, the world.
I have to plan care.
I talk about knowing that children can be cared for, safe.
I have met women who helped lead the struggle to end
Care (The materials to create themselves).
Women notice care.
At the very moment, as we sit here
Giving birth, running, dying
Watching children, denied the right to their own fathers
Forced to be here, to speak,
Those who speak can’t afford to care (women whose lives are violence).
Homes speak
all night, during the day.
Speaking to you today, I speak for them.
each of us denied chance
to have a say about the direction of
the truth
because both inside and outside
we understand that there is no formula
each woman makes herself
the choice, the chance
to recognize that we will never
respect control.
Destinies cannot be fully achieved
Accept to long.
men are protections,
freedoms from personal security
the right to remain silent
used as an instrument
Tragically, women make up the world
Excluded from, vulnerable to
I believe that the Eve of a new millennium
abuses the history of silence
The voices must be heard loud and clear:
When denied, drowned, suffocated, broken, born girls
Set fire to marriage
Deemed too small.
It is a violation when war is home.
Mutilation is women against will.
Echoes let us not forget that
to endure is indefensible
to attend, prohibit from fully taking part
clear away the peaceful
struggle bloodless, without a shot fired
we remind men to see war
we have to diminish everywhere
the act of care
to realize that we care for
you
Sarah Chekfa designs and writes in Manhattan, New York.
instagram / twitter / substack